San Antonio de Bexar 



A OUIDIC AND HISTCJRV 



Compiled and Kditkd uv 

WILLIAM CORNER 

I ■ 



//, /, L^S TRA TED 



San Antonio. Texas 

Hainbridge & Corner 

Christmas. 18(10 






Corvuu.HT. l!Si)il. uv 
r.AIXKRIDGE & CORNI':U 

AM, Kicirn; kivSi^kvkh. 



Gift from 
Mrs. Marcus Benjamin 
Pec. 5, 1932 



PREFACE. 



It yet remains forme to express thanks to mj- helpers. To such Texaiis as 
Mrs. M. .\. Maverick, Mrs Canterbury, Dr. Cupples, General H. P. Bee, Dr. 
Herff, Colonel Ford, Colonel Withers, Mr. John Dobljin and to others I owe much 
more than p;;rhap-i they are aware of, forit was my talks with " old-timers" that 
put me in touch and sympathy with their and earlier times. Not all, of 
course, that I have learned about San Antonio has lieen herein written down, liut 
every smallest detail was counted b)- me as a help towards the better understanding 
i)f my subject. I was continually impressed by the excellence and accurac}" of 
Sidney Lanier's Historical Sketch, and desig'ued verj- earl}' that it .should form a 
part of this work. To Hishoi^ Neraz I owe thanks for a glimpse of the older 
Church Records, .^s to the County Records, the kind directions of 
Messrs. Thad. .Smith and Tlieo. Ro/.eine, have been of nuich service to me. To 
all these mentioned, and to many others who have unconsciousl_v helped me at 
the cost of being l)ore 1, I return my thanks ; nor do I forget that an acknowledge- 
ment is here due to my brother, Charles Corner, tor work an<l encourage- 
ment. I trust my book will not onl\- be a satisfaction U) the in(iuiring visitor, but 
I should like to think that it could furnish a few notes and suggestions to a 
future historian of Texas. 

Further than these remarks, I ha\e no use for the prefatory privilege, so for 

tlie rest, " for better or for worse." nn- book, with its illustrations, shall speak for 
itself 

December. 1 MM). W. C. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGR 

Introductory 1 

Railroads iJ 

Mallory Line of Steamers 4 

Transfer 4 

Haeks and Carriages 4 

Hotels 4 

Boarding and Lodging Houses, Flats o 

Restaurants . 5 

Street Car Lines and Street Railways 6 

What There Is to See 7 

The Alamo Church as it is in 1890 8 

Some Further Notes on the Alamo 8 

The Cathedral of San Fernando 12 

The Missions- 
How to Get to the Missions 13 

Mission Coneepcion 14 

Mission .San Jose ♦ . , 17 

Mission San Juan IJO 

Mission San Francisco de la Espada 21 

The Plazas 24 

The Mii.it.\ry E.st.\bi.ishment — 

Headquarters Department of Texas and Fort Sam Houston ... 25 

Military Drills 26 

Some Further Notes on Military Affairs 27 

Churches 31 

Educational .* 32 

International Fair Grounds 83 

Riverside Park, San Pedro Park 34 

Opera Houses 34 

Public Halls 34 

Newspapers ,34 

Stock Yards 35 

City Additions ■ . . 35 

Artesian Wells ,3o 

Real Estate, Laud Grants and I'"ield Notes of Tow'n Tract 3(> to 3!l 

Public lUiildings • . 39 

Banks 40 

San Antonio Clulj 40 

Other Clubs 40 

Vf'Ung Men's Christian Association 40 

Military or Militia Organizations 40 

I'riendly Societies 41 

TiiK W.^ters oi' S.\x Antonio .\Nn S.\x Piciiro — 

The Ditches or Acecjuias 41 

The Pajalache or Coneepcion Ditch 43 

The San Pedro Ditch 44 

The Alamo Madre Ditch 44 

The Upper Labor Ditch and the History of Its Construction . . 4li 

The San Antonio River oO 

The Water Works .",4 



vi SAN AXTOXlo DI'! HIvXAR. 

San Aiitci:iici as a Ilcal'.li Resort ")S 

Some Resources of Western Texas (il 

List of Charters and Aineiulments do 

List of Mayors of the City of San Antoi:io liii 

San Antonio dk Bexar, bv Sidney Lanier — 

Anthony Crozat, 1712. Huchereau St. Denis, 1714, Xew Philippines. Spain's Earliest 
Claims. La Salle, 1H8.5. San Antonio de Valero. 171-5. Franciscans of Queretaro. 
San .\ntonio de Valero, 1722. Spain's Mission. French Claims. Correspondence 
of D'.Marconne and De la Harpe. The San Antonio Missions. "Lastekas" — 'fexas. 
Indians. Teslimonio de nn Parecer. Apaches, 1732. Sandoval and Franqnis — 
iireat lawsuit. " San Antonio de Vejar." Foundation of the Church of the Alamo, 
1744. French and Spanish Policies, 1702. San Saba Mission, 17.58. Seculariza- 
tion of the Alamo Mission, 1783. Partition of Alamo Jlission Lands, 
1793 Closing the .\larao Records, 1793. Americans, 1800. Philip Nolan. 
Lieutenant Pike, 1807. San Antonio Society Prior to 1810. Troublous 
Times. Colonel Delgado. Revolutions. Magee and Gutierrez Colonel 
Kemper. Colonel James Gaines. Governor Salcedo. Battle. Surrender of San 
Antonio by the Royalists. Ma-^sacre of Royalists. Don F.Usondo. Another 
Battle. Royalist Loss. Captain Perry. Don Jose Alvares Toledo. General 
Arredondo. Another Battle, Royalists Victorious under .'\rredoiido, 1813, A 
"Black Hole" o( San .\ntonio, San .\ntonio .\lmost Abandoneil, 181(i. Moses 
Austin, 1820. American Colonists. Treaty of Cordova, 1821 Secession from 
Spain. French Merchants in San Antonio, 1824. The Bowie Brothers, 1831. 
Shawnees and Comanches. 1832. Sam Houston, 18.'5.3. Texas and Coahuila. 
Stephen F. Austin and Mexico, 1833. Revolutionary Meetin.g, 1834, I'gartechea 
and Cos. Santa .-\una. Deaf Smith. Dr. James Grant. Burleson. Alaverick. 
San Antonio Besieged by Texans, 18.'!o, Milam and Johnson. San .V'ltonio Taken. 
Karnes. Surrender of the .\lamo by Cos, Travis. Crockett, .\rrival of Santa 
-Anna, l.'^3(). Siege of the .\lamo. Bonham aiul Fannin. Account of Rose. Fall 
of the Alamo. Mrs. Dickinson and the "Child of the Alamo." Indians, 1840. 
Captain Howard. War between Texas and Mexico. Raids of Vasquez and WoU, 
1842. Annexation, 1S45. Ccsmopolitan San .'\ntonio. Meteorological. Geo- 
graphical. San Fernando. Religious. Points of Interest. Conclusion. . . 08 to 91 

Interviews and Memoirs of Old Time Ti'.xans. 

F;xtracts from the Memoirs of Mrs, M, .\. Maverick 95 to 101! 

Interview- with Mrs. Canterbury . , , 107 

A Talk with Right Reverend Bishop Neraz , , , . , i09 

Interviews with Dr. Cupples 112 

.\n Interview- with Dr. I'erdinand Herff, Sr 115 

An Interview w-ith Mr. John Dobbin ,,1111 

Seiiora Candelaria 117 

Colonel Ford's Memoirs 119 

The Alamo Monument at .\ustin 124 

The Count)- Records 125 

The Founilin.g of the Town of San Fernando 120 

Historical, interesting and statistical dates of, and relatingto, the City of .San Ai.tonio, 129 to l(i(i 



ILLUSTRATIONS AND PLANS. 



iwr.!'; 



Chiircli of the Mission del Alamo Fi oiilispici'C 

Mission de la Concepcioii (First MisBion^l •'^ 

ISIission San Jose de Aguayo (Second Mission) 1- 

Group of Views of Missions and Mission Bui'dings l'> 

Plans illii'trating the Alamo. Concepcion, San Josd, San Juan and Kspada Missions, San 

Jose Granary and the Villa Capital de San Fernando, with References Ui 

Group of Views of Portals and a Window of San Jose -" 

Group of Detail of Mission Carving -4 

Group of Views of Military Post -•'^ 

Federal Building •">- 

The San Antonio National liaiik I" 

Group of Scenes of Mexican I.ife in San Antonio 14 

Groupof River Scenes and old Jlission Aqueduct ''li 

Spanish and Jlexicau-Texas Seals . '4 

Facsimiles of Signatures of Historical Personages '^ll 

Western Texas Cowboy Sketches li'4 

San Antonio City Hall liS 

Numerous small cuts incUuled in the letter press 

Ma]) of the central (lortion of the City of , San Antoi'iii 



ERRATA. 



1. Mrs. Hockett has chantjecl from St. Mary's Street to the Apartment House, corner o( 
Houston and Jefferson Streets. Page o. 

2. For '■ turning soutli at Laurel Street," read " turning west, etc." Bottom of Page (i. 

;>. Since the first sheets of this work were printed the electric rapid transit Street Car Lines 
have been extended in several of the suburbs of the city. Page 6. 

4. For "Espado" read Espada. on illustration. Page 20. 

■5. The Magnetic Needle omitted from Alamo Mission Plan. Note— the .Alamo Church fronts 

almost due west. Page 24. 
fi. The Government Post has been recently officially named Fort Sam Houston. Page 2"). 
7. Turner Hall has been converted into Rische's Opera House. Page 34. 

5. For " weeky " read weekly. Eleventh line, page .3-5. 

!». ForW. .A. Little, Esq., read C. C. Cresson, Esq., last line 'San Antonio Club." Page4l). 
1(1. The Waterworks proposition was rejected by a large majority on September 80th, 
1890. Page .57. 

11. For "Prom" read From. 4th line, page 7."). 

12. For "St. Patrick's Day :" read without the colon. KItli line, page 117. 
13 For "anialuer" read amateur. ]7tb line, page 117. 

14. .American Biographical Dictionaries differ OS to the year of General R. E. Lee's birth, but 
the liest aiithoritits give January 10th, l.tll7 ; not 1S06. Page IMl. 




J 






San Antonio de Bexar. 



Introductory. — " By far the most pleasant as well as interesting town in 
Texas is San Antonio.'' So writes George Wilkins Kendall in ISKJ, in his 
" Narrative of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition " of the good city of old Bexar, 
that stood for a generation or two, bravely up in the seething of the " meeting of 
the waters, ' ' — the meeting of two great opposing races and civilizations. Over the 
rolling western prairies had crept, moving eastwardly, the fringe of the tide of the 
Spanish, — the I^atin-Indian civilization from Mexico meeting after awhile here a 
mightier and colder current pushing westward — the American, the ever restless 
Anglo-Saxon flood. The stronger influence overcame. To-day, San Antonio is a 
flourishing, enterprising, American city, as Texas is the greatest of American 
States and one destined to a magnificent future. It boasts an historical past. San 
Antonio was a bone of contention, Texas was the meat and fat for the victors, and 
all good San Antonians believe, with some show of reason, that the nearer the bone 
the sweeter the meat, which is just about what Kendall means, only expressed 
rather differently, for he adds later to this praise of San Antonio the following : 
" I have an abiding faith in Western Texas, and will stick by it till the Guadalupe 
runj dry." Such love had old Texans it seems for the land they had foaght for 
and won. 

Both floods still remain, but now commingle harmoniously, having long since 
ceased to maintain an unequal contention. Strange traces, however, of the strug- 
gle are everywhere present in the old city, in spite of its new face and smile of 
prosperity. Its quaint traditions, customs and reminiscences are quickly recog- 
nized by a stranger's enquiring eye. Alas ! while these, the old houses, here and 
there, and the Missions, more or less the worse for age, remain to us, the strong, 
grand old pioneer faces of men who had in tiieir turn taken up their " pistols '' 
their " sharp-edged axes," and the 

"Task eternal, and the bunleii and the lesson," 

are getting to be few and far between. l)ut their work, llieir sons and their 
sons' sons remain. San Antonians, pure and simple, and Texans mostly, 
walk with a ste]) that bespeaks tradition and a certain pride of country, of a jeal- 
ous remembrance of that part their fathers took in the winning of the brightest 
star of all in a galaxy, and a demeanour which tells strangers ])lainly enough if 
thej' be too prompt with unwelcon:e criticism of .some of their seemingly odd old 
ways, fashions and methods, — " Sirs, we have a history, find it out, it will repay 
you and perhaps j-oti may discover why we do some things that you would not do 
and leave tindone some things that \ou would do." And, indeed it will repay the 
student right nobly. It is a stirring, thrilling history almost inexhaustible in 
interest. 



2 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

It is lunvc\t.-r the modern town which has to be dealt with just now. Its 
history, chronicles and .som° deeds of its doughty men will be found as fully set 
out in other pages as space will allow. But, as this guide is compiled as much for 
the benefit of strangers and enquirers as for home folks, it is as well that a few of 
the leading facts of the city's origin and being be emphasized in this introductory. 

San Antonio is now probably the most cosmopolitan spot on the face of the 
globe. Representatives of everj- race of the earth have been counted here, except 
perhaps the aboriginal Oceanicans. The larger elements of the existing popu- 
lation are American, Mexican, German, Colored, with smaller groups of French, 
Italian, Polanders, Irish and many other nationalities. 

San Antonio partakes more of the appearance of an old world town than any 
in the Union — Boston not excepted. Although the modern business blocks and 
fine residences, with all their adjuncts in the way of the conveniences of civiliza- 
tion so largely predominate, yet the ancient looking house here and there, the 
crooked streets and allej-s, the plazas, the relics of an older and altogether differ- 
ent dynasty — lend the city a venerable air that is particularly pleasing to the 
visitor's eye so used to straight, wide streets and compact blocks laid out in the 
mathematical precision of a chess board. 

The peculiarities of the city will be better understood if the facts hinted at 
above are remembered. To comprehend things rightly the city's history and 
origin must be constantly borne in mind. Eet the rule, for instance, be applied in 
reference to the venerable Missions, at once the pride, glorv and regret of San 
Antonio. 

Let a traveller from the East or North be .set down before the gateway of 
San Jose. In his journeyings he has seen nothing like this before. The Mission 
must be to him an enigma. He hears that it is a centur}' and a half since its 
foundations were laid by Catholic missionaries, aided by their converts, half or 
more than half savage Indians, all under constant peril of their lives from the 
outside from the cruelest of hostile tribes, that were uncompromising in their 
enmity. If he is practical, the traveller will wonder whence the stone came 
where no quarries were — from where the lime, with no kilns — who was the 
architect, the superintendent of works, the artist stone cutter — the engineer, for 
he may be told that this old Mission was once fortified. An intelligent man is 
bound to ask these things, and if he merely remembers that the Mission is on the 
outside edge of his own territory and civilization he will fail to understand and 
realize how it was all done; he is even in the dark as to the .spirit and design of 
its founders, much less comprehending the hard, practical fact of the presence of 
the.se great ma.sses of masonry and beautiful sculpture in a lone, wide, wild 
prairie, as he knows the spot must have been in the days of the erection of these 
Missions. 

But, suppose that the traveller had come from, say, the City of Mexico — had 
a smattering, at least, of Spanish and Mexican History, knew and understood 
that the aggrandizement of Spain's Empire was the object alike of Church and 
State — the King and the Church going hand in hand, the one establishing the 
other; the King granting, conceding, and sending his soldiers to protect, the 
Church sending its well-trained servants to work, to proselytize, to acquire, to 



RAILROADS. 3 

bless. Coming through Mexico, the progre.ssion from one great religious fouiula- 
tioii to another would seem natural, as he travelled northward and eastward, and, 
keeping in view Spain's necessity to firmly establish her borders, the Texas 
Missions would appear at last perfectl\- in place and keeping with a definite de- 
sign and scheme. The puzzle would be ab.seiit, but the admiration for indefatiga- 
ble workers would be none the less. The Missions would be the ornament on the 
fringe of the Spanish and not the Anglo-Saxon skirt. To the brothers — 
Franciscans — who had the ac(|uirements, resources, devotion and energy to plan, 
design and build the magnificent churches of the City of Mexico, the religious 
houses, chapels, bridges and aqueducts scattered over the land, the foundation 
and construction of the San Antonio Missions, wonderful as the work was, does 
not seem to be a very difficult task. Perhaps some of the same workers who built 
the great .stone aqueduct at Queretaro about the year 1730 came up to San 
Antonio with the Queretaro Franciscan lirothers and helped in the conqaletion 
of the beautiful San Jose. 

It is thus, then, that he nuist be in touch with its history who would come 
to correct conclusions about the grand old City of Bexar. This is only a single 
instance of a brighter side — but to other and sterner chapters the rule applies 
with a like reason. 

Not to delay further a practical description of San Antonio as it is — what 
there is to see and how to see it — the visitor is strongly recommended, before 
setting out on the rounds, to read Sidney Lanier's historical sketch. It will be 
found to be reliable, and is the best short history of the city that has been written. 
It is from the pen of one of America's most charming writers, and no praise of it 
is needed here. The name of the author is sufficient to ensure its being read 
with interest and attention. 

Railroads. — Three main lines of raih'oad with a niullitudc of tributaries 
run into and through San Antonio. The visitor may arrive at either of three 
different depots. 

The Southern P.vcific or Sunset, as it is familiarly called, has its depot 
in the northeastern suburbs. The main line stretches from New Orleans to be- 
yond San Francisco. Many of the New York and Eastern mails come in over this 
route, it having quick competing communications for eastern traffic and travel. 
Its principal business done with San Antonio is from California on the west — 
from New Orleans, Galveston and Houston, etc., on the east. It was the first 
railroad to reach this city, arriving here early in February, 1S77. An electric 
street car line — Belknap system — car labelled Avenue C. Line, etc., color green, 
nickel fare, does service for this depot to the Alamo Plaza citywards and to the 
Government Hill northwards. Another electric car line also does service here to 
Avenue E. and Alamo Plaza citywards and to the Alamo Heights, at the head of 
the river, northward — fare, nickel: color, yellow; light, purple. The South- 
ern Pacific ticket office is in the Adams & Wickes building, on Alamo Plaza. 

Till-: l\TKRNATi()N.\L -VND Gre.vt NORTHERN depot is in the western sub- 
urbs of the city. This line gives us communication with all parts directly north 
and east, via Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, etc., passing through our city, on via 
Laredo, to the City of Mexico, to which city it is at present one of the shortest 



4 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

routes. It also brings manj' eastern mails. It made its first appearance from the 
north in this city February 16th, 1881. It has an electric city street car service — 
Belknap system — color, orange; labelled City Hall, Plazas and all Hotels. The 
International and Great Northern ticket office is on the corner of N. Alamo street 
and Alamo Plaza. 

The San i^.NTONio .\nd Aransas Pass Railroad familiarly "S. A. P." 
" Our Railroad," the spoilt child of San Antonio, is an enterprise of which the city 
may well be proud. Under the far-sighted policy of its able president, U. 
Lott, who has a strongly developed prophetic instinct in him, this road is 
destined to become an important system. At present, with upwards of SOO 
miles in operation, it does good service, firstly with Boerne and Kerrville 
on the north, whence it is pushing a northwestern extension ; secondly with 
Corpus Christi and Rockport, and eventually deep water at Aransas, and the short 
est route to the City of Mexico on the .south ; thirdly with all that fertile grazing 
and farming country lying between Kenedy and Houston, doing here an immense 
cotton and cattle freighting business ; fourthly with Houston and Galveston east ; 
fifthly with another rich mid-Texas district by an important branch to Waco. 
Other branches are under construction and in contemplation. Mr. Lott's able 
lieutenant is General Manager B. F. Yoakum. The first ground was broken for 
this railroad in this city Maj- 18th, IS.S."). It is identified with the interests of San 
Antonio. The depot is in the southern suburbs. It is served by two car lines, 
the red car coming to Alamo Plaza the yellow car serving through South Flores 
street to the Military Plaza and North Flores street. The ticket office is in the 
Kampmann building, on Main street. 

Mallory Line of Steamers. — The pleasantest though not the shortest 
route to New York, is by rail to Galveston, thence by one of the Mallor}- 
steamers. This is a most delightful trip especially in the summer time. 

Transfer. — Busses and transfer wagons meet every train incoming or out- 
ward bound. The company is moderate in its charges for baggage or passengers, 
and their servants are as a rule punctual and obliging. 

Hacks and Carriages. — One of the peculiarities of San Antonio is an 
immense hack traffic. It is a favorite mode of locomotion. The charges are not 
high on account of the considerable competition. It is however always advisable 
to have a perfect understanding with your Jehu beforehand as to his ultimate 
charges, or in nine cases out of ten upon settlement you will harbor suspicions of 
being over-reached. Many of the hacks are costly vehicles, and nearly all have 
good stepping, strong hor.ses. On the whole it does well to fall into the custom 
of the place as to hacks. There are always plenty of them at train times at the 
depots and the stands are convenientl}' placed on the Plazas and Houston street. 

Hotels. — The Menger is the oldest and best hotel in the city. It is con- 
.spicuous on the eastern corner of Alamo Plaza, not far from the Alamo Church 
building. The Menger was established in 1S5S, being opened January 31st, 185!) 
It has been constantly added to until now its extensive buildings cover the 
greater part of the block. It is in the hands of its proprietor, Mr. H. D. Kamp- 
mann, and well managed by Mr. Browder. Its service and appointments are 
first-cla.ss in every particular. The facade is prettily shaded bj- trees, and the 



PUBLIC COMFORT. 5 

court yard contains one of the prettiest groups of banana trees in Texas. In the 
season musical evenings are an attraction to its guests, and fashionable gernians 
are periodically held. It is impossible to state the various hotel charges. 
It is perhaps sufficient to saj' that the charges of none are exorbitant. 
It is well situated as to street car service, many of the various city 
lines starting and terminating on the Alamo Pla/.a, viz : the scarlet line car 
plying between this plaza down Houston street to San Pedro Avenue and 
Spring.s — scarlet light. The City Hall line on Main and Militarj' Plazas. 
I. & G. N. depot and all hotels — color, orange: light, orange. The Avenue 
C line to Southern Pacific depot and Government Post — color, green: light, 
green. The S. Alamo, Mill street and S. A. & A. P. R. R. depot — color, 
red; light red. Green cars do service from the end of E. Commerce. A hack 
stand fronts the hotel. 

Another good hotel is the Maverick, on Houston .street. The building was 
originally erected for Military Headquarters, and was used for this purpose troni 
January '25, '7S till l.S.S-2, being enlarged and opened as a hotel in Ajiril of tliat 
year. As a hotel it is second in importance niily to the Menger. It is verj- well 
.served by the proximity of all the important street car services of the city, many 
of the lines passing its doors. 

Still other good liotels are the Southern, the St. Leonard, the Central, all on 
the Main Plaza, and the Mahncke, on Houston street. 

Boardingf and Lodging" Houses, Flats. — San Antonio is not 

quite so well off for good boarding houses as it might be. Probably the reason 
may be found in the fact that it enjoys a number of other facilities for easy and 
cheap living. Nevertheless, a number of really good boarding houses can be 
reckoned. Mrs. Cole's hou.se, on Pecan street, enjoj^s a first class reputation for 
the excellent table that is kept and the attention paid to the general com- 
fort. Mrs. Murphy's, on St. Mary's street, is noted for similar good qualities, al.so 
Mrs. Sappington's, on Tobin Hill. Mrs. Hockett's. on St. Mary's street, has a 
well-established reputation. Of course there are many other fairly good houses, 
but changes .so constantly come that the list mentioned must .suffice. A 
custom that very well suits the visitor making an extended .stay is that which 
many of the inhabitants have of letting for rent bj^the month, certain rooms, very 
often the best in their houses. Such visitors can make themselves very com 
fortable, and live more economically, by rooming in this fashion and boarding 
where best suits their appetites and convenience. Of course, all sorts of bargains 
can be made. It only requires a little searching for every class to be made 
perfectlj' comfortable. In fine, San Antonio, if not provided specifically with a 
large number of good boarding houses, is nevertheless a city in which living is 
made easy, not to say delightful. Mention must here be made of two excellent 
institutions, the Webb house, on Houston street — hplf boarding house, half hotel 
— spoken of highly as a place of comfort, and the Alamo Flats, on Alamo Plaza, a 
most convenient arrangement of rooms and suites of rooms, nicely furni.shed and 
excellently well conducted under its present management. 

Restaurants — Good ones are Harniscli & Baer's, on Alamo Plaza: the 
Elite, at the corner of Soledad street and Main Plaza: and Lang's Dining Room, 
on Commerce street. 



6 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

Street Car Lines and Street Railways. 

The Belknap System of Lines comes first. For years — since 1S7S 
almost up to the present time — this system was the only one which San Antonio 
had. It was inaugurated by the late Col. Augustus Belknap, formerly such a 
popular and genial figure in our community. It is now under the management 
of the able president of the company, Mr. W. H. Weiss. We have other systems 
and lines, and still others are projected. This system serves about all parts of 
the city, and all its lines, except the Flores street line, focus on the Alamo Plaza. 
Taking, therefore, the Alamo Plaza as a starting point, we will describe this 
system, mentioning principal streets, in progress and the termini. 

The Scarlet Lake Cars, named San Pedro line, take Houston street, turning 
north to Acequia street to San Pedro avenue and San Pedro Springs, turning east 
awhile down Locust street, then north again through Crockett Place and encom- 
passing Laurel Heights, back to and terminating on San Pedro avenue, far above 
the Springs. Night light, red; fare, a nickel. Electric line. 

The Green Cars, named Avenue C line, take Houston street, shortly turning 
north on Avenue C to the Southern Pacific depot, following Austin street to 
Canson street to Grayson street to Government Post, terminating at the southwest 
corner of the New Post. Night light, green; fare, a nickel. Electric line. 

The Orange Cars, named City Hall line, take Houston street. Sole- 
dad street south, across Main Pla/.a to Military Plaza, Dolorosa street, West 
Commerce street to the I. & G. N. depot, where it terminates. Night light, 
orange; fare, a nickel. Electric line. 

The Dull Red Cars, named S. A. & A. P. R. R. line, takes Alamo street 
south to Mill street to the S. A. & A. P. R. R. depot. Night light, red; fare, a 
nickel. 

The white cars, named Cemetery line, take East Commerce street to ceme- 
teries. Fare, a nickel: color, yellow and green. 

The Yellow Cars plying between San Pedro Springs to North Flores street, to 
Military Plaza, to South Flores street and Arsenal, to S. A. & A. P. R. R. depot 
terminating on South Flores street south of that depot. Night light, purple ; fare, 
nickel. 

The McCrillis, or Alamo Electric Street R. R. System, is next in impor- 
tance. Going .south from the heart of the city it crosses Houston and Commerce 
streets on Navarro street, crosses the Mill bridge down Garden street, turning 
on Mill street to Presa street, going far down that street, terminating at the 
Fair and Exposition grounds and Riverside Park. Fare, nickel. 

The McCrillis System al.so starts from the Alamo Plaza out Avenue E. a 
short distance to Third street, making a turn down that street crossing Avenue 
C, then into Martin street, making a junction on that street with its main line, 
then crossing the river over the bridge by the Convent on to Richmond Avenue, 
Madi.son Square, to Main Avenue, to Howard Street and Crockett Square, turning 
south at Laurel street across the San Pedro creek to the Fredericksburg road to Key- 



STREET CARvS AND I'lvACICS OF INTIvRKST. 7 

stone Park. Another line of the same system starts from Alamo Phiza east on 
Crockett Street to the Cemeteries. Fare, nickel. 

The West End System, built principally for the accommodation of the 
West End Town Company's passenger traffic, is a good line of Thompson-Houston 
Electric System. Starting from the corner of Houston and Acecjuia streets it goes 
west out Houston street, skirting the western limits, to the West F^nd Eake, where 
it terminates. Styled "Houston Street and West End." Color, blue: night light, 
lilue; fare, nickel. 

The Alamo Heights System. This line, starting from the Alamo Plaza 
out Avenue 1\. into Austin street, past the Southern Pacific R. R. depot into 
River Avenue past the head of the river, encompassing that propert\- to the Alamo 
Heights, a new and important addition to the improved suburbs of the city. 
Color, yellow; night light, purple; fare, nickel. 

There is a short car line from the I. & G. N. depot to the summit of Prospect 
Hill. Also one called the Cro.ss Town R. R., little used, from the Southern 
Pacific Railroad to the bottom of San Pedro Avenue. 

What There is to See and How to See It. 

The visitor once housed to his satisfaction in the city, so much around him 
is so interesting and so different to what he has hitherto seen, that he is sure to 
be earlj' asking questions and ent|uiring generally as to the lions of the neigh- 
borhood, what there is to see and how best to see it. Here is a list and following 
a more extended description with mention of the attractions of San Antonio and 
Western Texas. 

The Alamo of course leads the list, that is a shrine before which every pil- 
grim to San Antonio bows. The First and Second Missions should not be missed, 
and the Third with its substantial old Aqueduct, and the Fourth with its more per- 
fect fortifications, if time will allow, should be visited. All four Missions have 
different points of interest and will repay a thousand times in pleasure any diffi- 
culty in getting to them. The San Fernando Cathedral, the extensive Irrigation 
Ditches, are worthy of note. The Pla/.as, the curious custom of the all-night out- 
door Supper on the Plazas. The stranger should certainlj' take a Mexican supper. 
The Mexican quarter and its denizens, trans-San Pedro creek, should be done. 
Riverside Park and Exposition Grounds, the San Pedro Springs, the Head of the 
River, a peep at the Horse and Stock Yards, two or three fine Public Buildings, and 
last but not least the Government Military Post and Depot, with its extensive 
grounds and works, drills, parades, music and barracks. This Post is probably 
the most important in every respect of any in the United States. 



8 SAN ANTONIO DK HI-:XAR. 

The Alamo Church as it is in 1890.* 

The foundation stone of the Church was laid on Maj' 8th, 1744. A stone in 
the carved front bears a date of 1757 ; it is uncertain what this date means ; it 
may be the date of the Church's dedication. Giraud shows (Yoakum's History, 
App. IV.) that the Mission was founded in 170.!, on the Rio Grande, and after 
being twice removed to different sites it was finally brought to San Antonio by 
order of the Viceroj- of New Spain, the Marquis of Valero, May 1st, 1718. A 
printed copy obtained from Rev. Father Bouchu, Padre at the Mission Espada, 
of " Informe Oficial del Conde Revilla-gigedo, Virey de Mejico al Rey de 
Espaiia, 179-^," concerning the Missions of Texas, relates that the " ereccion " of 
this Mission dated 1710. The Mission was secularized with the others by decree 
of Don Pedro de Nava, April 10th, 17!I4. The famous siege began February 22d, 
183(1. The " Fall of the Alamo" occurred March fith, 18;5H. 

A visitor to-da}- at " The Alamo," will be met at its entrance by the worthy 
janitor, Capt. Tom Rife, a Te.xan of pioneer days. He guards the building with 
a jealous care it is indeed a pleasure to note in these days of the irrepressible 
relic hunter and wall scribbler. The visitor will be given in short the particulars 
of the foundation of the Mission and the church. A description will be given him 
of the desperate stand to the la.st man of Travis, Bowie (the inventor of the cele- 
brated bo wie knife), "Davy" Crockett, Bonham, and Iheir companions, in de- 
fense of their countrymen's liberties and the independence of Texas. One hun- 
dred and seventy or more men, with sublime recklessness, decided that the)' would 
never surrender or retreat. Death to each was the cost of this magnificent temer- 
ity. He will be shown the arch pillars upon either side, evidences of a ma.ssive 
arched roof and dome, the remains of the towers, with the vaulted ceilings to the 
ground floor cells, the connection of the place with the convent from the choir, 
the cruciform of the Church, the site of the dome, the room used as a powder 
magazine during the siege, which is interesting for its massive walls and strong, 
vaulted stone roof or ceiling, and for the fact that it was here that Evans was 
shot in a last vain endeavor to set fire to the residue of the ammunition and that 
in all probability it was here that Bowie was bayoneted on his sick bed too ill of 
typhoid fever to do an\lhing but set a high example of admirable fortitude and 
courage. The present roof, some of the upper windows and floorings and other 
improvements, the visitor will be reminded are modern. The captain will be 
found ever ready to answer the questions that naturally arise to those not too 
familiar with the Alamo's eventful history. 

Some Further Notes on the Alamo. 

" And their t\ag floated out on the breeze 
Like tremulous liands strelched forth to l)Iess." 

The building now commonlj- known as the Alamo, and which is realh- the 
Church of the Mission of the Alamo, or of San Antonio de Valero, is on the east 
side of the Alamo Plaza, its carved i>ont faces west ; it stands at a point a little 

* "Alamo " is the Spanish name for the Cottonwood tree, a species of poplar quite common npon the banks 
of Texas rivers and creeks ; its timber is in demand for the beauty of its texture : on account of the height of its 
close foliage it makes a favorite roosting place for wild ttirkeys. The Alamo seems to have been built in a grove 
ofthes trees. 



THE ALAMO. 9 

nortli i)t midway on the east side of this Plaza, as at present constituted. As will 
be seen on reference to the plan of the Mission as it originallj' was, both the 
Alamo Church and the Convent yard were outside the eastern boundarj' of the 
ancient enclosure known as the ''Square of the Mission." This enclosure ex- 
tended its northwest corner down Avenue D one hundred feet or more, embracing 
with the north-west walls a good portion of the actual building site of the new 
federal building. Its western boundary was almost exactly along the sidewalk 
past the Maverick homestead across Houston .street past the Maverick Rank and 
the row of buildings following on the west side of Alamo Plaza. The boundary 
all along here, as is most frequently the case with these Missions, consisted of 
dwellings and barracks for the use of those connected with or dependants of the 
old Missions. Two irrigation ditches or acequias, both of them abandoned many 
years ago, ran upon each side of this row of dwellings, one a branch of a branch 
and the other a branch called the Acequia del Alamo of the Villita ditch, now 
running under the eastern wall of the Church through the Menger hotel on to "La 
Villita," which ditch, by the way, is itself a branch of a main acequia (Acequia 
Madre del Alamo) which pa.sses farther east from the head of the river and on to 
Water street. All these ditches were used not only for irrigating the lands in the 
immediate vicinity and belonging to the Missions, but provided water for the 
domestic uses of the Padres and their numerous dependants and coadjutors. 
Similar dwellings and buildings to those mentioned formed the northeastern 
corner of the square. The southern boundary was more prominent on account of 
the strongly built entrance and sally-port of the square being there. The build- 
ing each side of the entrance were most commonly used as a prison and strong- 
hold ; further mention of this building will appear later. Hardly a vestige o' 
these enclosing walls of the Mission Square could be found to-day. The eastern 
wall or boundary was also conspicuous for the Convent buildings which it in- 
cluded, and upon the.se Convent foundations Honore Grenet, in the year 1S78, 
built for a grocerj' warehouse the inartistic erection now occupied by the firm of 
Hugo & Schmeltzer. This property has been condemned by the city (1.S.S9) so 
that these remnants, too, will in all probability soon disappear before the mandates 
of improvement committees; when, all that will be left of this once prominent and 
always most famous of the Texas Missions will be those walls in the form of a 
cross, which with " ears to hear," caught to themselves the secrets of the closing 
scenes of a sublime tragedy. They alone know the last personal results of a 
unanimous resolve of desperate but calmly deliberate heroism. Old, battered, 
time-worn, silent walls, no word of any single hero's prowess, or separate and 
supreme feats do your portals tell. They are carved with emblems and signs of 
quite another story. Those deeds are your secret. Nevertheless, echoed from 
you, shall be heard the whispers adown the farthest "corridor of time" of a mag- 
nificent story of reckless and immovable self-sacrifice. 

East of the Convent building, projected from its walls the Convent yard, a 
rectangular enclosure, about 100 feet square, surrounded by strong walls, it touched 
and joined with its .southeast corner the wall of the near corner of the north 
wing of the cross formed by the walls of the Mission Church. The Convent 
building was 191 feet long, running to the south line of East Houston street, so 
no doubt on the north side of the Convent yard was another enclosure proba- 



10 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

bly fenced with a wall, but not of the importance of the main Con\-eiit yard. The 
Convent, the Convent yard, the pri.son building already mentioned, and which 
was e.xisting till l.S6(i, 'when a s;orni blew the roof off) or later, the .space imme- 
diately in front of the Alamo Church which was protected by a temporary 
battery stockade of cedar posts and earthworks stretching from the prison build- 
ing to the southwest corner of the Church, and lastly, the Church itself, were the 
chief scenes of the siege of February and March, LSoH. In the Church the last 
desperate stand ot the remnant of the defenders was made. These portions of 
the Mission were those that in these later troubles were connnoidy understood to 
constitute the fortress of the Alamo. While some of the dwellings might have 
been used and undoubtedly were used as barracks by larger forces, it could not 
have been but impossible for a handful of men (less than ISO) to have manned 
the whole extensive original walls of the Mission square. Indeed, tradition says 
that much of the western and northern boundaries of the large Mission square 
had been destroyed in ISM"), before the sie,ge, and that even the prison portion 
was abandoned quite early in the siege, though still covered by unerring marks- 
men with the long rifles which the Texans knew .so well how to handle. Before, 
General Cos did much to damage the place as a tenable fortress and during and 
after the siege, the walls were dismantled. Piecemeal, " here a little and there a 
little," the old Mission has been improved off the face of the earth. Very for- 
lorn and dilapidated must it have appeared when it left the hands of Santa Anna 
and his myrmidons in the spring of ISoG. " The Alamo," says Kendall, writing 
of 1S4I " is now in ruins, only two or three of the houses being inhabited." 
For thirteen or fourteen years after "the fall," the place remained in a 
state of almost absolute ruin. For much le.ss than a century had this 
church stood in the beauty of completeness. There are strong evidences 
that the Alamo Church in original general design resembled the Church 
of the Mission Concepcion, that is to say, it had a carved front, on either side of 
which was a tower with baptismal or vestry rooms at their bases, with belfries in 
their second stories. Both Churches were built in the form of the cross and had 
similar arches and arched stone roofs. The Alamo Church, probably like the 
Mission Concepcion Church, had a dome at the intersection of the cross arches. 
Here, perhaps, the resemblance between the two Churches ceased Now, long 
before the siege, tradition saj's, the towers had disappeared, the roof and dome had 
mostly fallen in, but what was left of the walls stood bravely up. These thick, 
strong walls, the Convent with its yard and the carcel or prison entrance were 
recognized by the man}- military leaders of the various factions and armies in the 
struggles and troublous times of the early part of the present century as about 
the safest harbor of refuge the neighborhood afforded, as at times others of the 
Missions were considered good frontier fortresses. 

About the year 1S49, Major E. B. Babbitt, acting Quartermaster of the 
Eighth Military Department, and father of the present popular commander of the 
Arsenal, Major Lawrence S. Babbitt, took possession of the Alamo buildings in 
the nan^e of the U. S. Government to use them as a Quartermaster's Depot. 
The ownership of the Alamo was disputed at this time, the city claiming it on 
the one side, the Roman Catholic Church upon the other. The city claimed 
from Major E. B. Bal)bitt, on January 3d, l.S.'jO, rents due for the occupation of 



THl', ALAMO. 11 

the " buildings and propuitN- known as Ihc Alamo." In a subsequenl suit which 
the city lost, Bishop Odin, on behalf of his Church, proved her title to the 
pro])erty. 

Major Babbitt, as has been said, found the whole place in appearance an ab- 
solute ruin. The Church building- was choked with drbn's, a conglomeration of 
stones, mortar and dirt forming on the inside a slanting heap from the base of the 
rear wall to the top of the front " so that a person could run up and look over the 
top of the front." Much work was necessary to put the place into anything like 
the shape necessary for offices and depot houses, and sheds. The Major .set to 
work to do this. The Churcli was first cleared, and deep down in the debris were 
found two or three skeletons that had evidently been hastily covered with rub- 
bish after the fall, for with them were found fur caps and buckskin trappings, 
undoubted relics of the ever memorable last stand. In a later year, March '29, 
1878, other skeletons buried at an earlier and apparently more peaceful period, 
were unearthed in the Church, and a beautifully carved baptismal font was 
brought to light, November 1-"), 1,S7S. What \aried scenes in the life of man it 
had witnessed ! One would be tempted to moralize writing for anything el.se 
but the pages of a bald historical guide. The next work done was the repairing 
of the front. To restore the upper part of it to its original form was impracticable. 
Bare practical utility is the desired feature of any Government Military work. 
So the top was finished off in its present modest shape, the rest of the walls were 
raised to an equal height, a roof was added, and to assist in bearing up this roof, 
two stone pillars were built inside at points in the wings of the cross in line with 
the arch pillars. A second floor was added, and in the southwest tower, once a 
belfry, an office was made. Other offices were added on the ground floor. A 
few troops were at first quartered in the Church, the Convent and yard were also 
fitted up for storerooms, stables and sheds. The carcel was also roofed and 
cleared, and a serviceable granary was made of it and used as such by the Quar- 
termasters for many years. It was demolished soon after the war, the wind be- 
ginning this work of destruction in ISIifJ. This old prison building u.sed to stand 
east and west across the north end of the garden of the Alamo Plaza and its 
foundations were brought to light in ISSl), when the leveling of the Plaza, prepar- 
atory to laying mesquite blocks, began. The buildings as restored by Major 
Babbitt, were used as a Quartermaster's Depot by the United States troops 
until the breaking out of the war, when the Confederate authorities used it for a 
similar purpose. After the war it was again u.sed by the United States Oovern- 
menl until the new Quartermaster Depot was ready on Go\-ernment Hill, on 
January •'!!, isys. 

In 1877 Grenet purchased the Convent portion of the Alamo property, and 
shortly (October 5, 187S) erected the atrocious lumber building before noticed. 
Objection was made on the part of the Church authorities to using the Alamo 
Church building as a mercantile storeroom, yet it undoubtedly was used for this 
at times. Early in ISS.-J the State began negotiations for the purchase of the old 
Church, and under Act of April 23, 1883, this was done, and on May Ki, the 
final transfer to the State for Si'O.OOO was made. This was tht; right and proper 
thing to do, and it was but a slight recognition of the valor of the men to whom 



12 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

Texas owes so much, not to mention the many other historical associations that 
its walls embody. Many particulars and details of the foundation and earlier 
history of this Church and the Mission will be found in Sidney Lanier's histori- 
cal sketch. These notes are intended in part to supplement and fit into his ex- 
cellent description. 

The Cathedral of San Fernando- 

This structure, once merely a Parish Church, now a Cathedral (the first Bishop 
of San Antonio was installed here Christmas eve, 1874), is a mixture of the old 
and new regimes. All that is left of the old building is the rear part, easily dis- 
tinguished by its marked Moorish characteristics, its dome and massive walls and 
octagonal design. The first Parish Church seems to have been built by 
subscription and the " subject of the construction was first considered in the Royal 
Presidio of San Antonio de Bexar, February 17th, 173S.* Don Prudencio de 
Orobio Basterra being Governor and Captain-General of the Spanish State of 
Texas, and Don Juan Rezio de Leon being Curate, Vicar and Ecclesiastical Justice 
of the town of San Fernando (without the Presidio of San Antonio), and it was 
resolved that this Parish Church should be erected under the invocation of the 
Virgin and our Lady of Guadalupe." Many Spanish names which appear in the 
original list of contributors are names well known in the present daj-, held by 
descendants. This old Church stood upon much the same ground as the modern 
structure does, that is, midway between the two Plazas, the Main and the Mili- 
tary. It bore, however, a nearer relation to the Military Plaza and its habitants 
than to the other, for it was here mostly that Spain's soldier-guardians of her 
border colonies dwelt, and it was for their use, more especially, that the Church 
was designed.! 

The corner stone of the new structure was laid on September 27th, ISfiS. 
The old main dome was destroyed April 21>th, 1S72, and the new walls went up 
outside the old, so that the Church was only for a short time in disuse. July '■'•(], 
1873, the old front was torn down. F. Giraud, who was Mayor of San Antonio 
at the opening, October (ith, lS7o, had furnished the architect's plans and speci- 
fications. It was the intention of the architect to have two similar towers, yet 
only one was partially completed. These towers were to have additional struc- 
tures of wood surmounting the masonry, twentj'-five feet above the summit of the 
tower now erected. In this tower are several bells that chime out morning, noon 
and evening, telling to all the city the time of day. Daily services are held, 
the Sunday morning congregation is, as a rule, large, and then the music is good 
and well worth hearing. The Church is open all day and under the care of a 
sacristan. There is an old and interesting font and several large pictures and 
other notable decorations. The present Bishop is San Antonio's second — the 
Right Reverend J. C. Neraz. 

* Another authority says that the foundation stone of this ohl Church was laid May i.-^th. 1734. 

— {Sail Antonio Herald, yitty tyth, 1872). 

t There was formerly mention existing in the church records of a still older church building on a dififerent 
site, at about No. 500 North Laredo street; all traces of this foundation have entirely disappeared. It was the 
origin of the old San Fernando Parish Church, and in a measure the building of the latter was probably a re- 
moval merely from the I.aredo street site. 



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THIv MIvSSIONS. i;j 

The Missions. 

" (5ood friend, for Jesus' sake forbear, 
Blest be tbc man that spares these stones." 

¥ ^: * ^- * 

A protest must be recorded here against the wanton mutilation of the sculp- 
ture of the Missions by thoughtless relic liunters. The shameful cliij)ping of the 
beautiful carving has been going on for years. At San Jose whole figures have been 
stolen and others made headless ; the fine old carved cedar paneled doors of this 
Mission were entirely wrecked and carried away piecemeal. Can any good use 
warrant such senseless robbery ? Good friend, forbear ! forbear even to add your 
name to the thousands scratched, scribbled and penciled on walls not meant for 
such a purpose. 

How to Get to the Missions. 

How can I get to see the Missions ? is the anxious inquiry of almost every 
traveling sightseer that comes to San Antonio. 

The idea that if one is seen all are seen is erroneous. 

Each Mission has its distinctive feaUires, and all are well worth a visit. 
Time, of course, is of great consideration to most people, and they would rather 
see one than none, which is reasonable enough, but if the time can possibly be 
spared none of the four Missions should be missed. There is nothing of the kind 
of equal interest on this continent. It is an experience of a lifetime, especially 
so to him who is engaged in the rush and torrent of business life. Let him then 
sacrifice a little to this object and he may be sure that, far from regretting the 
time, it will be a memory to be long cherished. It is a simple matter to get to 
the Missions, except after a heav}' rain, and then the muddy roads, as everywhere 
else in the world, are a little unpleasant. The wa}- for a stranger to go, to 
thoroughly enjoy the time, is to hire a buggy, or, if a small party is made up, a 
larger conveyance. Northern visitors are often seen making themselves very un- 
comfortable b\- going out to the Missions on horseback thinking that it is the 
thing to do in Texas. If you are a good rider, all right, but don't make yourself 
miserable bj- putting yourself for the first time in a Texas saddle to see the 
Missions, or you are verj- sure not to appreciate what there is to see. The 
ride should be made a separate number on the program. Granted, — that 
you have made up your mind to hire a buggy and to see all the Missions. 
Start in the morning after breakfast taking a liglit lunch with you. You take 
Garden street going south, and noting as you leave town the wide old Concei)cion 
Ditch on the left hand side of the road. You still follow the same street crossing 
the Southern Pacific Railroad track and bearing slightly to the right ; cross the 
S. A. & A. P. Railroad track, still following the same road, until you see the 
Towers of the Mission Concepcion standing conspicuously up on the left hand 
side of the road, just two and one quarter miles from the centre of the city. 
Having seen all that there is to be seen here, >ou make your way along the 
same road towards the Riverside Park, then down to the River, crossing a new 
county bridge there at the old ford. 



14 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

It was just in this neighborhood that the first battle was fought for Texan 
Independence, in 1835. After crossing the River, you take what is called the 
River Road, but you do not catch sight of the River again until you reach 
the Mission of San Jose, not four miles from the city. It should be noon by the 
time that j-ou have done these two Missions thoroughly, so if you choose you 
can drive down a short distance to the River and water your horse, tie, and at a 
very prettj' spot under the Pecans, take your lunch. You must return to San 
Jose to take the road to the Third Mission, passing the Pyron homestead on the 
left, keeping on between fences until you reach a branch of the road, one towards 
Berg's Mill, where there are both a bridge and a ford. The Third Mission is on 
the other side of the River. It will be noted that the Mis.sions are alternately on 
different sides of the River. The First on the east bank, the Second on the west, 
the third on the East and the fourth on the West. Leaving the third you return 
over the bridge a short distance to the branch of the road that you left, and 
go down abruptly to the wooden bridge over the Piedra creek. Quite close to 
this bridge to the left is the old acjueduct made by the Franciscan brothers nearly 
150 years ago. Alight and examine it. It is indeed a substantial and interest- 
ing work, a series of low massive arches on the top of which runs the Mission 
irrigating ditch. Leaving this, follow this branch road to the fourth Mission and 
return to the City at pleasure. 

Mission Concepcion. 

"To ruinate proud buildings with thy hours 
.\nd stiiear with dust their glittering, golden towers." 

In the report of the Viceroy Count Revilla-gigedo, referred to many timts in 
this work, the date of the "ereccion" of this Mission as well as those of the Missions 
of the Alamo, San Juan and San Francisco de la Espada, is given as 
1716. San Jose is given as being "erected"' four years later 17:2(). This 
does not mean that the buildings were then erected, but simply that in 
that year it was determined to establish Missions in suitable localities on 
Spain's frontiers for the purposes of subjecting, christianizing and civilizing In- 
dian tribes and of firmly establishing Spain's right to the.se regions of territory 
to which she laid a just claim. It was in the year 1730 that the Mission of Nues- 
tra Seiiora de la Concepcion Purissima de Acuiia was located as the report says 
on the site that it now occupies in the neighborhood of the Capital Town of the 
Province. The Church records show that the foundation stone of this Mission 
was laid March 5, 1731, about the time that the Mission San Jose was completed, 
and that taking twenty-one years to build it was completed in 1752. The won- 

* Translation from the " Infornie oficial " of Count-Revilla-gigedo, Viceroy of Mexico 1798. 

Article 196. " On the third e.xpedition of the year 17Hi, nine friars of the College of Santa Cruz of Que- 
r^taro and of Our Lady of Guadalupe of Zacatecas together with the Superior or President. V. P. Fr. .\ntonio 
Margil de Jesus established six missions in the most northerly part of the Province (Texas) and a few years 
thereafter another was built near the Presidio of Our Lady del Pilar de los Adaes distant seven leagues from 
the fort of Nachitoches in Louisiana. 

Article 197. In the year 1780. three of these missions. Wz, Our Lady de la Concepcion. San Juan 
Capistrano and San Francisco de la Espada were transferred to the sites they now occupy in the neighbor- 
hood of the Capital Town of the Province (Sau Antonio) and the other three were extiugnished in the year 1774 
as may be seen by Article 22 of the instructions contained in the Royal Regulations of the Presidios which 
His Majesty ordered dispatched under date of lOlh September 1772." 



MISSION CONCEPCION. l") 

der is, not that it took so long but that it could be completed in the time by the 
founders, with materials to find, manufacture and hew, and with the nece.ssit> of 
teaching an intractable people, strange to industry, at once, how to labor and the 
arts. The reader is referred to the ground plans of the Missions illustrated in 
this book and he will realize how enormous in the wilderness and with such 
difficulties was the undertaking. 

Mission Concepcion was built like the others for worship, for scholastic pur- 
poses and for defence. The barracks that surrounded the square have long since 
disappeared and what was for a period the home of hospitality and the .strong- 
hold and refuge of many wayfarers and travellers and alive with the daily toil 
ot its little community and the quick purpose of its founders, is now quiet and 
deserted, a relic, and but for the occasional service in the chapel is an institution 
that has served its day. It is pathetic, realizing that there is no help for the.se 
grand old monuments of the past but to fall more and more into decay. Mission 
Concepcion is the best preserved Mission of Texas. Its ''twin towers" and 
Moorish dome rising out of the brush and small timber in its vicinity arouse 
within one a mixture of curiosity, a sense of the incongruous and a delight of 
the picturesque. At the Mission lives a family, which is in charge and some one 
of them will bring you the key of the chapel and show you what there is to be 
seen, but it would be useless to try and elicit any information. To them the past 
of the Mission is as a sealed book and it has no romance for them. The Mission 
Church fronts due West, and is built in the form of a cross, with the towers 
forming two wings at the foot of the cross. This design corresponds e.^actlj* 
with that of the Church of the Alamo. The front gateway is worthy of clo.se ex- 
amination. The upper part of the ornamented facade is not an arch but a 
simple triangle and the arch of the doorway is, for want of a better definition, a 
divided poh-gon. In the division or center of the arch is a shield with arms 
and devices, and here and there on the portal facade are cross and .scroll, and 
carved relief pillars at the sides ornamented with carved lozenges. In angular 
spaces over the archway as shown below is the legend: 




^CESSA 




2> - 


^^\ 


rO 


»^ 


^ 


M 


5d 


w 


w 


ts; 


> 





which, being interpreted, is " With these arms be mindful to the Mission's Patron- 
e.ss and Princess, and defend (or vindicate) the state of her purity." Over this 



Iti SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

winds, circling in and ont, the flagelhnn or knotted scourge of the order of St. 
Francis, reahstically carved — "Ifitwan't for the knots, 'twould be like a hair 
lariat," as a boy once remarked. It also has an uncanny suggestion of a hang- 
man's noose. These are again surmounted with other designs, and above all on the 
summit of the facade is a stone bearing the date 1794, and immediately under- 
neath this is a shield with the initial, ^^.^ meaning, "Ave Maria." The only 
stained glass in all the Missions is the panes of two little windows each side of 
the upper part of the facade. The front of the Mission Concepcion must have 
been very gorgeous with color, for it was frescoed all over with red and blue 
quatrefoil crosses* of different pattern and with large yellow and orange squares 
to simulate great dressed stones. This frescoing is rapidly disappearing, and 
from but a little distance the front looks to be merely gray and undecorated stone. 
The topmost roofs of the towers are pj'ramidical and of stone, with smaller comer 
pyramidal cap-stones. The upper stories of the towers have each four lookout 
windows of plain Roman arches. The tops of the side walls of the Church and 
the circle wall of the central dome have wide stone .serrations in the Moorish 
character, the points of which around the finely proportioned dome stand out like 
canine teeth. The towers have belfries, and at their ba.ses, on either side of the 
entrance are on the right, a baptistry 11x11 feet with massive thick walls, and on 
the left a similar small chamber used as a vestry. The baptistry walls are fres- 
coed with weird looking designs, dim and faded, of the Crucilixion and " los 
dolores." It is quite dark in this room, there being no window, and a light 
must be procured to examine it. A semi-circular font projects from the south 
wall, its half bowl carved with what appears to be a symbolical figure with out- 
stretched arms supporting the rim. It is a rude piece of carving, but is artistic. 
Inside, the stone roof of the Chapel with its series of arches and central dome, is 
massive but plain. In each wing of the cross are altars or altar places. In the 
west end is a choir loft. In the east, an altar gorgeou.slj- decked and painted in 
the Catholic manner, for Mass. The walls, roof, and ceiling are newly white- 
wa.shed, the floor is " Mother Earth," but some bran new seats have been pro- 
vided. The Chapel up till recently, was in a very neglected state. To Bishop 
Neraz belongs the credit of having it restored to its present state of cleanliness 
and comfort. He it was who re-dedicated it to Our Lady of Lourdes on May '2. 
1887. 

The mission was frequenth' used for the quartering of troops, notably in 
IS.So. Santa Anna is said to have expressed surpri.se that the Alamo was chosen 
to be defended bj-the Texans in l8o(i rather than the Mission Concepcion, affecting 
to recognize, more effective military points in the Concepcion Mission as a strong- 
hold. In 1849 the United States troops were quartered there for awhile and it is 
said that they cleared the chapel of an immense amount of accumulated rubbish 
and bat guano. In the holes in the walls outside are to be found the nesting 
places of owls, pigeons, doves and other birds. To the south of the chapel, 
westerly, are a series of arches which were formerly cells, chambers and cloisters 
for the Mission inmates, but now used as storage rooms and stables. To the 

* These quatrefoils are repeated over and over agaiu in the carved lozenges of the pillars in relief, and 
frescoes of this Mission and at Sail Jos6. Whether there is any meaning attached to these particular forms of 
the cross beyond that they are crosses, the editor is unable to discover. 



_ Wniaturt ^laiij 

■in,'/- jOlt frrZ-J iiieA 




Sai} Jose 0)155109. 

TTie shaded part is in ruins. D represents door, W 
window. The dotted lines represent arches or abutments 
for arches. The front walls are $ f^ft thick, others jyi 
and 2}4 feet. 

Scale, JO feet to the inch. 

The river is to the north about y^ mile, runnijig south of east. 







jH^^S^ttSSL^ D/rCM 




"^ y^ ^ 




Sar) Jose (Jrai^ary. 

F F F etc. are flying- buttresses. The dwelling- is two 
stories high. The adobe wall is modern. The material is 
rough stone laid in mortar. 

The river is towards the north, runniog: south of east. 
Scale, 20 feel to the inch. 




\r Smnarij. 





L 


















D 






-^ 



GaM 



OfX/i'/"! 



Tlffw. 




D 



D 



Church 



3n 



Sap Juap fnissiop. 

^/jV /jn« jAow existing works, dolled lines, old and ruined 
ones. The river is to the west about loo yards, flowing in a southerly 
direction. D is for door, W is for window. The Granary and Church 
are partly in ruins. 

Scale, 80 feet to the inch. 




Espada /T)i55i09. 

Solid lines show existing works, dotted lines, ruined 
works. T T T are bastions or bulwarks. A A A A A are 
arched doorways. 

Scale, loo/eet to the inch. 



I^efere9<;e8 

Illustrating the Uilla Capital de San Fernando, Sparjisf] 
Garrison, Etc. 



1. The old Church of San Fernando. 

2. Churchyard Burying Ground, now covered by the Cathedral 
of 1868-72. 

3. The Presidio Garrison Barracks, long since removed. 

4. The old Plaza de Armas Dwellings and Ramparts. All 3 and 4 
were claimed by the city as city property and in most cases the city 
substantiated its claims, and, acquiring it, cleared the old buildings 
away. The lot marked 6 was the last private property to disappear- 
1889. In the '40s and '50s a man named Goodman gave much trouble 
before he was finally ousted by law by the city. Plats of most of 
these properties, and the names of claimants, may be found in 
Book 1, City Engineer's Records. The City Hall of 1850-90, with 
City Jail, occupied N. W. corner, c d. 

5. Properties of N. Lewis, Callaghan, Groesbeeck, et al., on Main 
Plaza, claimed and cleared by the city similarly to those on Military 
Plaza (See note 4). 

6. The isolated Spanish family names on the plan are those of 
some of the original property holders. 

7. The faintly dotted lines to and from the Veramendi and Garza 
Houses are the approximate routes to Zambrano Row and to the 
Priest House taken by the besieging companies under Milam and 
F. W. Johnston in 1835. The capitulation of Cos to Burleson fol- 
lowed in 1835. 

This plau is about 75 varas to the inch, Rampart Dwellings from 6 to 12 varas 
wide. Garrison Barracks, 20 varas wide. 



MIvSvSION SAN JOSfi. 17 

south forming a wing easterly are other hnildiiigs probably the sacristy, 
superior's vestries and ijuarters, these have two stories, the upper being ap- 
proached by a stone stair-case. The s(juare of the Mission at this date, can 
very hardly be defined, but that the Mission was situated in the southeastern 
corner of a ramparted square is without doubt. The Mi.ssion Square enclosed 
about four acres. The brothers of the Mission formerly owning about 100 acres. 
On April 10th, 17i'4, the lands of Mission Concepcion were partitioned in a simi- 
lar manner to those of the Alamo Mission, among its Indian dependents, setting 
aside certain portions of the land for the payment of Government taxes. This 
was done by an order of the Viceroy dated 17S0. The names of the recipients 
may be found in a document among our County Records. There were -tS souls at 
that time in the Mission community, namely Hi men, 12 married women, 1 boy, (> 
girls and ■"> widows. In 1S0.5 a census showed 41 souls. 

The name of the Mission refers first to the doctrine of the Immaculate Con- 
ception of the Virgin which was a new and burning religious question of the 
day. Acuna it derives from the name of the Marquess Casa de Fuerte, Viceroy 
of Mexico at the time of the Mission's foundation. 

The Mission San Jose. 

Mission San Jo.se de Aguayo or Second Mission as it is familiarly called, is 
dedicated to St. Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary, and was "erected" or 
founded in the year 1720, when Marquis San Miguel de Aguayo came to be Gov- 
ernor of Texas ; hence the name San Jose de Aguayo. It was probably begun 
shortly after, during this man's Governorship, for it was the first to be finished 
and the day of its completion was made the occasion of locating and beginning 
the Concepcion, San Juan and San Francisco Missions, March •"), 1731. San Jose 
Mission is the most beautiful of all, and its carving is surely "a joy forever." 
The hand that chi.seled the wonderful faoade at the main entrance of the Church, 
the doorway, window, and pillar capitals of the smaller Chapel, that now goes by 
the name of the Baptistry, was one of marvelous cunning. The facade is rich to 
repletion with the most exquisite carving. Figures of Virgins and Saints with 
drapery that looks like drapery, cherubs' heads, sacred hearts, ornate pedestals 
and reces.ses with their conch-like canopies, and cornices wonderful. The door 
way, pillar and arch, is daring in its unique ornamentation — .showing in its com- 
bination of form the impre.ssion of Moorish outlines. Otherwise the whole faeade 
is rich Rennaissance — figures and hearts alone with anything realistic about 
them. All other ornamentation is conventional but with nothing stiff, every 
curve showing a free hand. The window above the archway is a simple wreath 
of stich acanthus-like curves and conchoids of surpassing workmanship. 
The south window of the Baptistry is considered by good judges the finest gem of 
architectural ornamentation existing in j^.merica to-day. Its curves and propor- 
tions are a perpetual delight to the eye, and often as the writer has seen and ex- 
amined it, it is of that kind of art which does not satiate, btit ever reveals some 
fresh beauty in line or curve. And to think that men can be found who can 
ruthlessly deface these for the sake of possessing a piece of the material. Was it 
not that the .sculptor saw the perfect statue in the stone ? Surely here the fool 



18 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

sees only the stone in the material that has been given a beauty not its own. If 
stones ever do cry out, it is when they are alive with this touch of genius. 

" Do you not kuow me; does uo voice within 
Answer my cry. and say we are akin ? " 

But can these desecrators have any kinship with Art ? It is not the Te.xan 
or the Mexican who has done these things. Kendall says, writing of '42, 
" though the Texan troops were long quartered here, (San Jose) the stone carv- 
ings have not been injured." And this was in wartime when men are more than 
usually bent on destruction. 

Turn to the foundation plan of San Jose. It will be seen how extensive 
these Mission buildings are. They are placed in the northeast corner of the 
square, running almost due east and west. " The Mission San Jose consists also 
of a large square, and numerous Mexican families still make it their residence. 
To the left of the gateway is the granar}-." So says Kendall. The gatewa)- is 
gone to-day. The granary, with its strong and curious flying buttresses and 
arched stone roof, is still there and in it families make a home. The road still 
enters the Mission Square just at the right of the granar}', where the old en- 
trance was. Here you are in full \iew of the facade of the Mission Buildings 
with the square spreading out to the right or .south of the long main building of 
the Mission. The Mexican families still exist in huts erected upon the ruins of 
the ramparts of the Mission Sqirare. and in a few years these now hardly to be 
defined foundations will have been " improved " from the place. At the south- 
western corner of the Mission buildings is a belfry tower, about sixty feet high. 
It has four lookout windows and a pyramidical stone roof. Tucked in the angle 
made by this tower and the south wall of the large Chapel, is a peculiar round 
tower to accommodate the winding stairway of solid hewn wooden steps to the 
second story of the belfry tower. From the second story are very curious stairs 
or ladders made of solid tree trunks notched and dressed with an axe, leading to 
the upper lookout of the tower. Here, are to be had some fine views of the 
country. All over the tower chamber's walls are thousands of names of visitors. 
Only a small portion of the large stone roof of the main Chapel remains and much 
of the north wall has gone, leaving a great ugly gap on this side and 
the remnant of the roof very unsafe in appearance. These portions of the Chapel 
with its dome fell in with a great crash on a stormy night of December, ISIJS. To 
the south of the main Chapel is a smaller one, the window and carving of which 
were referred to above. This is roofed by three domes, the tops of the enclosing 
walls being serrated, all quite in Moorish style. The entrance to this Chapel is 
from the east from an ante-chamber or wing of the cloisters. The arch and side- 
stones of the entry door are beautifully sculptured, and here, there still remain, 
much chipped, once finely carved, cedar double doors, and although so badly dam- 
aged they suggest to one's mind what the beauty of the front doors or gates at the 
fa'^-ade of the main Chapel might ha\'e been. In this little Chapel services are 
still occasionally held. Its altar is decked with gaudy patchwork of a distinctly 
Mexican design, and many a little trumpery, by way of offering is placed there by 
the simple and believing women folk of the place. Some of the details of the 
capitals of the pillars, the font and other car\ing of this little Chapel are illustrated 
• in this book. There are two ancient Spanish pictures, one hanging each side of the 



MISSION SAN JOSE. 19 

altar, much the worse for age, scenes from the life of St. Jo.seph. One is very 
phiinly the " Flight into Egypt." The other, more difficult to make out, is most 
likely a picture of the Circumcision. The fan-like fluted canopies of the window 
and recesses have a pretty architectural efifect. The cloisters and cells, which 
were of two stories, are quite extensive with a double series of arches stretching 
eastwardly from the main building. The outside arches are plain, wide semi- 
circular arches, and pointed (iothic arches inside and on the second floors. 
These monastic additions to the Mission had formerly fallen very much into 
decay, but in l<S.")y some Benedictine fathers arrived here from St. Vincent's 
Abbey in the Pittsburg Diocese, Pennsylvania, with the intention of rebuilding 
these rooms and cloisters for scholastic purposes. The intention was only par- 
tially carried into effect. The industrious fathers rebuilt many of the upper 
Gothic arches, as far as can be learned, manufacturing their own red bricks for 
that purpose and the making of the big oven at the east end. What fimdly inter- 
fered with this purpose of the Benedictines it is difficult to discover, but it is more 
than likely that wars and ruuiors of wars and an unsettled epoch had much to do 
with the abandonment of their project, adding one more unfinished chapter to the 
heroic history of the Catholic Church in Texas. 

Notwithstanding their irrigation ditches and the proximity of the River to 
all the four Missions, the constructors did not forget one important item — water, 
in case of the community being confined to the Mission Square. Each of the 
Mi.ssions has a substantially built, serviceable well, sunk close to the main building. 
San Jo.se was erected under more than ordinary difficult}', the builders being 
under constant fear and expectation of attack by hostiles. Perhaps fear is a word 
too foreign to the natures of these brave and religious pioneers who stniggled 
with such pious determination to success. It must have been very disheartening 
to find that all their faithful labor was in vain, though no record of any such ex- 
pression is extant. Captain Pike, who in his famous expedition visited this 
Mission in ISOT. relates that the Priest told him that " it appeared to him that the 
Indians could not exist under the shadow of the whites — as the nations who 
formed the San Antonio Missions had been nurtured and taken all the care of 
that it was possible, and put on the same footing as the Spaniards ; yet, notwith- 
standing they had dwindled away until the other two Missions (San Juan Capes- 
trana [sic] and L,a Purisima Concepcion)* had become entirely depopulated, and 
the one where he resided had not then more than sufficient to perform his hou.se- 
hold labor. From this he had formed an idea that God never intended them to 
form one people, but that they should always remain distinct and .separate." t 

Bishop Neraz thinks the figures on the front of San Jose to be. The \'irgin, 
San Jose, San Benedict, San Augustine and San Francisco. Other authorities 
have given a .slight variation of this list. The front was frescoed in red, blue 
and yellow in pretty designs, but this is now very difficult to discern. 

• Census of 1H0.'> showed ibrtyone souls in Mission Concepcion. 

t This extr.ict from " Pike's Kxpedilion " is taken from Yoakum's History, Vol. I., p. til. With regard to 
this — Where are the nations of the Indian i"with half his face vermilion") mentioued in the Recordsof Marriages 
of Mission Concepcion ? (See Interview with nishop Neraz) " Kven with the good Knight Charlemain! " 



20 SAX ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

Mission of San Juan. 

The Third Mission, or Mission San Juan de Capistraiio was named after 
Santa Giovanni di Capistraiio, a friar of the Franciscan order who was born in the 
year KiSfi in the little town of Capistraiio in the Abruzzi in Italy, or rather in 
what was formerly the kingdom of the two Sicilies. The Mission was begun in 
17'U on March "ith. It is situated on the left or east bank of the river al)out six 
miles from San Antonio, a very picturesque locality by the San Juan ford and 
bridge. The settlement there is called Berg's Mill after a Scouring Mill erected 
some years ago. The S. A. & A. P. R. R. Depot goes by that name al.so. 
About a half mile from this settlement on the right or west bank of the River is 
the old aqueduct already alluded to in the introductory to the Missions — this 
aijueduct takes water over the Piedra creek for the u.se of the P'ourth Mission 
lands. Mission San Juan is less remarkable and distinguished than the other 
two just described but has its points of interest. Its square is well defined and 
the design of a complete Mi.ssion can be made out with less difficulty here and at 
the Fourth Mission than at the others. Its little granary, its chapel, its ruined 
convent or monastery which must have been a building of some importance in its 
day, and the foundations of a chapel which was never completed are all objects of 
interest. These main buildings unlike those of the First and Second Missions 
form parts of and are built into the boundary or rampart walls. A number of 
Mexican families live here, some of the members of which possess marked Indian 
features. In the neighborhood of San Juan there are more traces of the Indian 
in faces and characteristics than anywhere else in Texas. The best time to note 
this is on a Sunday afternoon when they usually congregate at one of the houses 
near the ford for their weekh- cock fight which seems to be the excitement of the 
community, that is among the men. 

The Chapel of San Juan is very plain and simple in construction. Just four 
walls — the tower being merely an elevation of a portion of the East wall with open 
arches in it for bells. There is still one l:)ell left. The Chapel is roofless except 
for one small room at the .south end which is walled off by an adobe wall and 
which is used as a Sacristy, vestry, and receptacle for the small remaining stock of 
figures, books, pictures and other such bric-a-brac. The inside of the walls of 
the Chapel, however, will affiard to such as care for that sort of thing a few min- 
utes interesting study in rude frescoing. The frescoes are almost obliterated bv 
exposure to the weather andthe wonder is that they have not long since been washed 
entirely off by lieavj' rains. They are a curious mixture of Old and New World 
ideas. Detail of Moorish design, a Roman arch, an Indian figure and pigments. 
"These frescoes, ' says Father Bouchu, "I think are of later date than the comple- 
tion of the Chapel and they were probably permitted, to satisfy the Indian na- 
ture's love of color." A painted rail about four feet high running around the 
Chapel first attracts the eye, then the elaborately painted Roman Arch in red 
and orange over the doorway. The design of this decoration is decidedly of a 
Moorish caste, zigzag strips and blocks of color with corkscrew and tile work, 
and pillars of red and orange blocks. These pillars are about twelve feet high and 
support another line or rail of color and upon this upper line are a series of fig- 
ures of musicians each playing a different instrument. The figures for .some rea- 
, son are much more indistinct than their instruments, the latter being accurately 











TTTffTff^T^: 



— ^^— 



WEST I'dHTAl. OK CHAI'EL, MIS^ImS" s A ■. JOM.. 




%♦ ''f^. 








ii>'ik. KM-IISIKV, SAN JOSK. 




SOUTH VVINnOW <IK IIAITISIKV. MISSION SAN JOS^ 



11^ KA.IIAKIS, MISSIOti t-^^t AlX>. 



MISSION SAN FRANCISCO. 21 

drawn and easy to distinguish. There is one of these figures over the frescoed 
arch of the door. It is a mandolin player. The player is indistinct, portions of 
his chair and instrument ])Iainer, the latter can be made out to be of dark brown 
color with the finger board and keys, red. To the right of him is a violin player, 
the best preserved sample of all — the violin and bow are quite distinct, so are the 
features of the face of the figure, his hair is black, lips red, face and legs or- 
ange, feet black, the body of the \iolin orange, the re.st of him and the bow red. To 
the right of him again is a guitar player, dressed .in a bluish green color, sitting 
in a red chair, the instrument is quite di.stinct. Directly opposite this figure vis 
a vis is a viol player; the instrument being held by the player, finger board up, 
from the left shoulder across the body ; head, hands, instrument and bow being 
distinct, but the body of him is "played out." To the right of thi.s gho.stly 
looking viol player is a harp and a chair but the player is either invisible or van- 
ished. The lower rail, which is the much more elaborate of the two, supports here 
and there a flower pot and ilowers in incongruous colors of bluish green and dull 
red — carnations and roses being prime favorites, with an occasional cress on a 
painted pedestal or dado. 

If there is any record of the partition of the lands of this Mission it has not 
been discovered, at any rate with regard to the rooms in the ramparts it seems to 
have been customary at the Mi-ssions that a nundier of years occupation of rooms 
or barracks in any Mission gave some kind of title or claim to those rooms to the 
occupants. The Mission Government was generous to its converts and depend- 
ants. The Missions were projected for their benefit. This must explain such 
documents as that which may be found in the County Records dated January' 2.Sth, 
1826, which relates that Maria de las Santos Lope/, and Bartara de las Santos 
Lopez who were then occupying three rooms in the Mission San Juan conveyed 
the same to the Province of Texas for the sum of S''>4.()() January 'iNth, 1S26. 
This sum was paid to them 1n- Antonio Saucedo. then Chief Justice. 



Mission San Francisco de la Espada. 

The Fourth Mission or Mission San I'Vancisco de la Espada, was "erected" 
as were Missions Concepcion and San Juan, in the \ear 17 Hi, but it was not lo- 
cated and begun to be built until March •")th, 17-!1. It is situated on the 
right or west bank of the San Antonio River about nine miles from the city, and 
is dedicated to San Francisco de la Espada, that is, to St. F'rancis of Assissi, the 
founder of the great order of Franciscans, but the question ari.ses, whence " de la 
Espada ? " St. Francis of the sword ? -Tradition says that the old tower of the 
Chapel was built in the form of the hilt of a sword, and that the imagination of 
the founders supplied length to the blade to complete the similarity to the whole 
weapon. Perhaps it was that they were possessed with a portion of the spirit of 
that Greek parent who.se .son complained of the shortness of his .sword; "Add a 
step to it, my son ! " The allusion to the sword may have had some reference to 
the period of the awakening of St. Francis after his early illness, for it is related 
of him thai he did not know at first whether he was called to be a valiant soldier 
and knight, or to be a faithful servant of the Church Militant. 



22 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

Parts of the ramparts or enclosing walls of this Mission are pretty well pre- 
served, others are in total ruins, hut the foundations of the limits can be clearly 
made out all around except at points facing- the banks of the River. The Square is 
of irregular shape as will be seen by the plan furnished. In the southeast corner is 
an object ofnuich interest. Projecting from the angle of the walls outwardly, is a 
small round tower of quite a feudal character. It is in a state of fine preservation 
and its three dressed stone round cannon holes near the base, and its seven 
musket holes about eight feet from the ground, lend it quite a menacing presence. 
The interior of it is in equally good repair, and one cannot refrain from conjuring 
up vivid scenes of fights with Indians in those early days of the Mission struggles 
with the red man — of women handing out the loaded muskets from the secure 
chambers to the right and left rear, of the unerring marksmen making it very hot 
for the attacking hostile, with an occasional lull in which is run out a small brass 
swivel gun* to the dinuiiiitive embrasure, which makes the Apache or Comanche 
wish he were safe home in his fastness among the hills of Bandera. And it 
might have been that the recent remembrance of the total destruction of the San 
Saba Mission and the massacre of its inmates in IToiS lent some zest to these en- 
counters. For while these old Missionary pioneers were ever anxious to deal ten- 
derly with any hostile, 3'et unfortunately there were occasions when sternness 
was necessary-, 

" Thai they might feel 
The velvet scabbard held a sword of steel." 

There was another of these " baluartes " or bastions on the south wall by the 
road, west of this one, but no trace of it is to be found. The chambers to the west 
of the existing "baluarte" have, looking out upon the square, alternate doors and 
arches, and one of the wide arched entrances .still e.xists. The rooms to the north 
have been fitted up for a school hou.se by Rev. Father Bouchu, who is wonder- 
fully active and persevering. He knows something of many subjects, which he 
has practically proved here at the Mission. "Padre Francisco" is Priest, law- 
yer, bricklayer, stonemason, photographer, historian, printer. His little pamph- 
lets in Spanish would be a credit to an office of much larger pretensions. He has 
lived in this community for many years and is well versed in information pertain- 
ing to the history of the Missions, and being himself one of those Priests who join 
with their vocation a knowledge of practical handicraft, he enters into the spirit of 
the founders with more than ordinary keenness. He is simple, unaffected, and 
garrulous, and meets the wants of the little settlement. He has built with his 
own hands upon the ruin of the old Convent and arcade a comfortable Priest 
house. Under his rule the Mission Chapel has been almo.st entirely renewed, the 
front only retaining a portion of its ancient work. The Chapel is in the form of 
a cross. The front is the belfry tower and is that portion that is supposed to 
represent the likeness to a sword — perhaps it bore more of that resemblance be- 
fore its restoration. Its three bells clang out three times a da)', and would be 
startling on the still country air to one who was ignorant of the vicinity of the 
Mission. It is said that some of the Mission bells were cast in San Antonio in its 
earliest days, so there is no knowing what these old Missionaries did not come 

*• Mr, .\lbert Maverick has one of these little Spanish brass guns as .in ornament or cnriosity in his 
drawing loom. 



MISSION SAN FRANCISCO. 23 

prepared to do. There are several pretty little bits of wrought iron work in this 
and the other Missions. Here is another artistic accomplishment to be added to 
the list of those posses.sed by the fathers. The entrance door of the Chapel is un- 
mistakably Moorish, having the true Alhambra shape and lines. Seba.stian 
Tejada, the Mis.sion's oldest resident, maintains that there was still another place 
of worship on the inside of the South wall by the road, here was the old main 
South entrance and the Granary was built projecting lengthwise outside the 
walls by the same entrance. Only the bare foundation of these two buildings 
now exist. Opposite the old Convent is the well which was never forgotten in 
the building of a Mission. The Convent, its yard, (which form now the Padre's 
residence) and the Chapel or Church are built into and form portions of the 
western ramparts. A plan and three illn.strations of this Mission are included in 
this book. Several Mexican families still reside in tumble-down huts on the lines 
of the Mission Square. 

It was this Square that the Te.Kan Army of Independence made their first 
camping ground — on the place that is now much overgrown with mesquite 
brush. Here Stephen F. Austin joined the troops as Commander in Chief upon 
his escape from Mexico, and where — " but that is another story," — An interview 
with Sebastien Tejada will perhaps be of some interest. 

An interview with Sebastien Tejada. an old and intelligent Mexican, who 
was born in one of the Mission Dwellings in 1818, Mission Francisco de la Es- 
pada or Fourth Mission. Interview held on May 'iOth, 181K). In reply to many 
questions he stated substantially as follows : 

"I was born here in 1.S18. I have lived here all my life. I was born about 
the time that Arredondo came through. This Mission seems to be much the 
same as when I first remember it,— only some of the buildings were more com- 
plete. I remember the Convent before it was so much altered. I remember the 
arcades (row of arches of the Convent) and the granary which projected from the 
entrance on the .southern boundary. Also the foundations of the old Church in- 
side the walls projected from the granary — the present Church is quite new, except 
the front. I do not remember ever seeing the " baluarte " — (the fortified tower on 
the southeastern corner) — used but I have heard of its being used against the In- 
dians. Yes I remember the hostile Indians coming upon us many times — but 
they were generally fought in my time inside the square of the Mission. The 
dwellings used to be much more used formerly. We used to have and 
house friendly Indians, but they mostly left at last. I remember when there 
were three Padres to do service here. The old Church was pulled down about 
fifty j'ears ago. Dependants of the Mission used to live in the barracks at the 
corner where the baluarte is. I remember another "baluarte" at the entrance 
opposite the granary. The walls by the other entrance of the western boundary 
had loop holes, too, but not round towers. I remember often the Spanish troops 
camping here. I remember Howie well, he married Gov. \'eramendi's daughter. 
He was a fine looking, fair man. I remember the army of Austin and Fannin 
camping here in l.S.'S'"). They camped in the middle of the Plaza. Many colonists 
(he called them colonists of his own accord which was a touch of old days) came 
here at that time. I remember Santa Anna, I saw him. He had one leg. I re- 



24 SAN ANTONIO UE BEXAR. 

member verj- well that the dead of the Alamo fight were burnt. The Texans 
separately from the Mexican dead. It was the Mexican cu.stom to thus burn 
their dead after battle. I remember the fight well. I don't know what the Tex- 
ans defended in the Alamo, but thought it was the whole Mission walls. I don't 
know. I knew Sefiora Candelaria formerly. She is old, may be a hundred. 
She might have been in the Alamo during the fight. Quien Sabe." 

HERE ENDETH THE FOURTH JIISSION. 



The Plazas. 

These open spaces which are characteristic of Latin America, and to a great 
extent of Texas are as follows, beginning in the east and traveling westward : 

Alamo Plaza. — Is the outcome of an original space around the Alamo, 
added to by the destruction of its outworks the " Muralla del Alamo." It has 
recently been converted into a beautiful garden and surrounding it are the follow- 
ing buildings of interest : The Church of the Alamo, the Opera House and Club, 
the Federal Building, and the Menger Hotel. This ground was the .scene of 
Santa Anna's bloody assaults on the Alamo in March, 1836. 

Main Plaza. — Is situated on the we.st side of the business heart of the 
city and is connected with Alamo Plaza by Commerce and North Alamo street. 
This Plaza was anciently named La Plaza de las Yslas, and fronting on it and 
running back to the Military Plaza is the Cathedral of San Fernando, formerly 
the old Parish Church and yard. This square is also laid out as a handsome 
pleasure ground. 

Military Plaza, — Or, La Plaza de Armas, lies a block to the west of 
Main Plaza and, previous to the erection of the new Municipal Building, which 
occupies a site in its centre, was from time immemorial the heart of Mexican life. 
The small vendors, the freighters, the pastores, peones and vaqueros, all congre- 
gated here. Here, too, still stand the old Court House and Jail, commonly called 
the ■■ Bat Cave." 

At night, in the olden time, and in a modified form up to within a few 
months, was to be seen a unique spectacle of open air life belonging rather to the 
tropics than to any part of the realm of Uncle Sam. 

Imagine a large square at that time badly lighted as to municipal illumina- 
tion, but ablaze with small camp fires and flaming lamps swinging above rows 
of improvised and shaky tables. All night long one might be served here with 
viands hot from the Mexican aiisine — Chili con came, Tamales, Enchiladas, Chili 
verde, frijoles and the leather-like tortillas. The more fastidious American 
might enjoy delicately fried eggs and chicken with a cup of fair coffee, followed, 
perchance, by a corn-shuck " cigar ro," rolled l)y the hand of the dark-eyed 
'' muchacha " in charge. 

These al fresco restaurateurs have been hunted by electric lights and city im- 
provements from Plaza to Plaza, iintil now a poor remnant of them may be found 
still further west on Milam Square near the grave of the hero, whilst a few others 









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THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. 25 

cling tenaciously to a coign of vantage in front of the Kedcral liiiilding on Alamo 
Pla/.a in the east. 

B)- the tourist " from the states," these peripatetic tables are eagerly sought 
for as a curiosity to be seen, but only to be patronized in a gingerly kind of way 
from a weak misgiving as to tiK- origin of the victuals. 

As day dawns and the lamps show dimmer, these queer hotel keepers put out 
their fires and foldi;;^; their tables, " silentlj- steal away " until another night. ■'= 



THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. 

Headquarters Department of Texas and the Post of San Antonio. 

The Post of San Antonio now established on Government Hill, about one 
mile uorth of the city, had its official beginning in 18fio. This date, however, is 
only that of a new birth, and for those who are interested in such matters, we 
append to the purely "Guide Book" information of this page .some further re- 
marks on the Military history of San Antonio from a much earlier date. 

The Present Post, then, went to housekeeping in 1S(;."5, immediately after the 
war, in buildings hired for the purpose The troops remained here until 187-!, 
when they were withdrawn under Special Order No. 148, Headquarters Depart- 
ment Te.xas, dated August 7th of that year. They returned in accordance with 
Special Order No. loS, dated August '^Sth, 187."), from the same Headquarters. 

After many changes, as set forth hereafter, the present magnificent site was 
occupied under orders dated December "iOth, 18711, — the occupation, so far as the 
Post was concerned, taking place on the 'lid of the same month, the Department 
Headquarters remaining some time longer in the citj'. 

The following will l)e of interest to visitors : 

The hill is reached by the Belknap Street Cars, Avenue C. line. The Post 
is situated on a rolling plateau, overlooking the city, and elevated 7(52 feet above 
the Gulf of Mexico in latitude 29° 2(r 83" north, and 98° 27' 38" west longitude. 

There is a telegraph office at Department Headquarters and a railway con- 
nection between the Quartermaster's Depot and the Southern Pacific system. 

The buildings were begun on June 2I.st, 1877, Braden & Angus, contractors, 
and have only recently been completed, the Government Hospital being built in 
188.5 and the "New Post," contracted for September 18, 1888. They are tastefully 
designed, as will be seen from the accompanying illustrations, and are located on 
a reservation of 11)2.21 acres. Of this noble site, so worthily occupied by 
Uncle Sam, '.'2.7'l acres were donated by the city ; 49.18 were acquired by 
purchase, Ajiril 2Sth, 1884 ; 19.29 acres by decrees of the District Court of 
Bexar County, dated April 7th and May 2r)th, 1888, and .!I5 acres were granted 
by the city of San Antonio to complete the donation heretofore referred to. 

•Reference i-* had for further parlicuLirs as to these interesting public i)l.'ice-i to the acconipanyinfj 
maps of I.a Villa Capital de San Fernando, and the niaj) of the heart of the modern city, also to many further 
details in historical portions of this work. 



•2r, SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

It will be noted, further on, that other sites had been offered to the Govern- 
ment by the city authorities, both before and after the war, but for various reasons 
none of them were accepted. 

In addition to the Officers' Quarters of the "' Old " and " New " Posts and 
the extensive Barracks, are the Department Offices and Ouartern;aster's Depot, 
the following data will give an idea of their importance : 

They are built around a quadrangle ()24 feet square, the main faoade fronting 
south is 499 feet li inches by •')-■) feet and two stories high. The north front is (524 
feet by 30 feet and of one story ; the whole comprising 3(1 store rooms, 20 offices, 
extensive work .shops and a cellar. 

In the center of the quadrangle is a tower formerly used as a water tower, and 
containing a clock. It is SS feet high, and from its summit a fine view of the city 
and its environs may be obtained. Below lies the town with the San Antonio 
River meandering .southward on its tortuous way to the Gulf doubling and turn- 
ing on its journey, as tho' loath to leave the scenes of its l)irth. 

Military Drills. — A feature of Post life, of probably the most interest to 
visitors, is the Dress Parades and other military functions which are constantly 
taking place on the hill. 

They occur as follows : 

Drills. — Almost daily, the time varying with the season of the year. Dress 
Parade, generally on Tuesday and Thursday at the hour before sun-set. The 
Monthlj' Muster and Inspection takes place on the last day of each month, 
usually about 10 a. m., it is an interesting sight. Guard Mount, with full band, 
occurs daily about >i:oO, a. m., but the hour is sometimes changed during the in- 
tense heat of summer. 

The Organization of the Department and Post may be learned in great de- 
tail from the Roster issued monthly from the office of the Assistant Adjutant 
General of the Department. 

The Arsenal is located far from the Post on South Flores street and may also 
be reached bj' the Belknap line of street cars. It is commanded by an officer of 
the Ordnance Corps, Major Babbitt, who constitutes one of the Department Com- 
mander's Staff and supplies the troops with ammunition and accoutrements. 

At the Post are quartered Brigadier General Stanley, commanding the De- 
partment, and his Personal and Departmental Staffs. Col. Black commanding 
the Post with four troops of Cavalry, two Batteries of Light Artillery and six com- 
panies of Infantry, and Col. Weeks Chief Quartermaster, in charge of the De- 
partment Depot and Offices. 

The following is a list of the Post Commanders. The history of the De- 
partment is treated elsewhere. 

Capt. N. Prime, lOth Infantry up to June, 1n7;'>, afterwards transferred to Fort 

McKavett. 
Capt. J. W. French, July, ISTo, held command until the removal of the troops 

in August and September of the same year. Capt. French was transferred 

to Fort Clark. 



NOTES ON MILITARY AFFAIRS. 27 

Capt. Sellers returned with tlie troops (Co. D, Idth Infantry) in Aiignst, I.S7.'i. 

Capt. Wilson, April, 1S77, Co. U. 10th Infantry. 

Major McMillen, December 12th, 1(S77, in command of four companies of the 

'2nd Artillery at Camp Guilford Bailey (the lower portion of the present "old" 

post) with Capt. Patterson and Company A, 20th Infantry, stationed in town. 

Capt. Patterson and his Compan> were transferred to Fort Brown in June, 

ISSO. 
Col. Shafter, June, 18S(), six Companies, IsV Infantry, afterwards transferred to 

Fort Davis. 
Capt. Dickey, December, 1890, Co. E, 22nd Infantry, afterwards transferred to 

New Mexico. 
Col. Otis, October, 1SS3, two Troops, Sth Cavalry, increased by four companies, 

IGtli Infantry. Col. Otis was transferred with the Sth Cavalry to Dakota in 

October, 1887. Captain Lancaster, commanding Battery "F," 8rd Artillery, 

arrived in December, 18S'2 Capt. Lanca.ster was relieved in November, 

ISSd, by Capt. Bnrbank — the Battery remaining here. 
Col. Smith, May, 1888, the Kith Infantry left for Utah and were replaced by six 

Companies of the I'.lth Infantry. 
Col. Black, May, 1S!)0, I'.tth Infantry leaves and are replaced by six Comjianies, 

2;!rd Infantry; four troops, .'>rd Cavalry and one Battery of Light Artillery. 

These troops, with the Battery of Artillery before mentioned, now constitute 

the Garrison of the Post of San Antonio. 



Some Further Notes on Military Affairs. 

Perhaps it is because of the Wars and rumors of Wars which have made up 
so much of the life of San Antonio in the past, that everything military is popular 
with its citizens. It is purposed in the following article to trace the history of 
the present huge establishment from its birth in humble surroundings, thence 
through a checkered career of weary wanderings to its final abode on Govern- 
ment Hill. 

That San Antonio is a natural strategic point, has been recognized by 
Aboriginals, Spanish. French, Mexicans, Texans and both the National and Con- 
federate Governments : thus its development has been but a natural growth, 
sometimes aided, and sometimes impeded, by local influences. 

From the end of the seventeenth century, Spanish troops had marched and 
counter-marched in the valley and acro.ss the country, taking promiscuous <iuar 
ters, as occasion demanded and opportunity offered. The F'rench traversed the 
country in 1714, and .somevi'hat disturbed the sleepy securitj' of the Spanish 
soldiers, but nothing came of the raid. What a countrj- Te.xas must have been 
in those days for rapid campaigning ! Little need for tents or much baggage. 
Unlimited forage and game made the Quartermaster's office, in the ohleii time, 
almost a sinecure. Enough Indians to keep the troops on the (///i vivc. an occa- 
sional lack of water or perhaps an excess from swollen streams, together with a 
more frequent scarcity of corn, were the chief impediments to the anne.\ations of 
their Catholic and Cliristian Majesties of Spain and France, — Catholic truly in 
their territorial views. 



28 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

The first permanent Barracks, in the city, were built on the north side of the 
Military Plaza, in ITTo, bj- Baron de Ripperda, and shortly after the seculariza- 
tion of the Alamo, a company of volunteers from San Carlos de Parras was 
quartered in the building. 

After a period of nearly forty years of peace, the Mexican revolutions and 
Texas counter-revolutions plunged the province into a series of militar}' con- 
vulsions between Republicans, Royalists, later Dictatorships and Texan patriots, 
which culminated in the Fall of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto, a set- 
tlement of the question only disturbed by two subsequent raids from acro.ss the 
Rio Grande. 

During all these disturbances, the color of the Military Post of San Antonio 
varied with the fortunes of war, and the soldiers billets were the desecrated 
Missions and the homes of afflicted citizens. These expeditions are treated at 
length in other portions of the work, and their termination brings us to the period 
of annexation in 1S45-46, the occupation of Corpus Christi by Zachary Taylor 
and his advance into Mexico. 

These events led to action, on the part of the United States authorities, with 
a view to establishing a permanent military post in San Antonio. Col. Harney 
was on the ground as early as 1.S45 ; and in 184G the City Council (Bryan 
Callaghan, the elder, being Mayor; C. F. King, pro temp.) offered the Govern- 
ment one hundred acres at San Pedro Springs for the purpose in question. The 
location at the Springs was not accepted, and for obvious reasons, the ground 
being comparatively low and easily commanded ; so on March 2d, 1.S4(), the 
Council appointed a committee to reconsider, and on January 2d, 1S47, the 
records say that the "grant'" was "rescinded." In the meantime soldiers re- 
mained in the city and, after a temporary sojourn in the Military Plaza, the Alamo 
was occupied as a Quartermaster's Depot by Major Babbitt, this branch of ihe 
service continuing there until isys, with the exceptions of the period covered bj- 
the Civil War and a subsequent removal of the troops to Austin, as noted 
elsewhere. 

The United States held possession of this property pending a suit between 
Bishop Odin and the cit}% to try title, and demurred to a demand of the latter for 
rent. The suit was won Ijy the P)ishop. 

In 1S4'.) the Council again proposed a site for barracks on Military Plaza, 
this offjr was rejected on the score of insufficient room, and besides, the grant 
was to be hampered with conditioiis, an element in titles which the United States 
never entertains. At this time, General Worth, commanding, lived at the James 
homestead on Commerce street, where he died May 7th, 1849, of cholera. He 
was buried near the Head of the River, his bod}' afterwards being taken to New 
York. He established a camp at the Concepcion Mission and another at the 
Head of the River whose Springs are officially known as the Worth Springs. 
The Headquarters were then established on the North side of Main Plaza. After 
the war the Arsenal was removed from a building near the Veramendi House, 
corner Houston and Soledad street, to its present home on South Flores street, 
which had been preparing for it since 18")'.t. 



NOTES ON MII.ITARV AI<l'AlkS. -2!) 

The rollowiiii;- is ;i list of iiiilitarv coniinuiKhuits from tlie first occupation of 
San Antonio hy the National troops : 

Col. Haniej^ l.S4")t) ; General Worth, to ISli) — ^he dying here of cholera ; 
General Harney ; General Percival Smith, Headquarters at Corpus Christi ; 
Albert Sydney Johnson, Headquarters, Vance House, San Antonio, to 1857. 

General Twiggs* succeeded, but being unjustly court-martialed on a trivial 
charge, Robert E. Lee took command, entering the town February 21st, ISUO. He 
had previously been with Jos. K. Johnston, Colonel commanding at Concho, Lee 
being Lieutenant Colonel at the time. He remained only a few months, and 
General Twiggs was again in command at the outbreak of the war: from him and 
Col. Reeves, the public property was acquired by a committee of citizens consist- 
ing of S. A. Maverick, P. N. Luckett and T. J. Devine. The same gentlemen 
served to restore what they could at the clo.se of the War in l.Sd.'). 

After the War, the Heachinarters were removed to the French I'.uilding on 
Main Plaza, and afterwards to Austin. 

General Reynolds, comniauding ISii'.l to January, \X7'2. 

General Augur, commanding Januarj-, 1S72, to March, IN""), troops removed. 
General Ord, commanding April. 187"), to December, ISSO, ne;i(I(|narters 
returned to San Antonio November, 1875. 

General Augur, (2nd term) commanding January. ISSI, to October, 1SS3. 
General Mackenzie, commanding November, 188.'!, to December, 1888. 
General Stanley, coinuianding May, 1884, to date. 

Lieut. Col. Robl. Iv. Lee boarded at the Hostelry (kept by Mrs. Phillips, 
where the St. Leonard now stands). General Twiggs lived near the Mission 
Garden. 

There was some excitement in the city during the transfer of the property, 
and nuistering ot Volunteers and some talk of resistance, but everything 
was arranged without blood-shed. Without reflecting on General Twiggs it is 
undoubtedly a fact that his .sympathies, at least, were with the citizens. 

Taking up the historj' of the Headquarters proper, we find that in 18.')7 the 
Headquarters were at the \'ance House ; they remained there all through the 
war, being then under the Stars and Bars. In ISIl."), the Federal Headquarters 
were established in the "French Building" until they were removed to Austin in 
18(i'.), the troops following in August and Sejiteniber, 1873. 

The Headquarters returned to San Antonio in November of 187"). and in 
1878 were establi.shed in a building erected for the purpose, hy the Maverick 
family, on Houston street (now the Ma\erick Hotel); and during the same 
month, the Quartermaster's Depot on the Hill was completed, the reservation 
having been acquired as noted in the foregoing article, beginning w ith the first 

*There is an arausinR anecdote connected with the conrt-niartialing of General Twiggs which has 
the advantage of bcitig authentic. He had been ordered by the Secretary of War. to publish an order reflecting 
upon liiniself. Discipline prevailed, but t.> save his ant'U^r /<io/'r,-. the Oeneral appended a statement of his own , 
in order, as he says, that " the antidote may go with the poison." the order was thus issued, iiespitc the calmer 
suggestions of his .\djutant-Oeneral, Col. Withers, Twiggs w.is court-martialed, escaped with a reprimand and 
returned to the command of the Department. 



30 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

donation by the city, February Kith, 1S70, accepted by the General Government 
in June, 1871. 

In 1S73 General Sheridan, W. \V. Belknap, Secretary of War, and 
General Mej-ers came to San Antonio on business connected with the proper 
establishment of the Headquarters of the Department of Texas. There was an 
effort made to keep them in Austin or remove them to either Fort Worth or 
Denison. All these projects fell to the ground. 

On May ('th, 1S75, W. W. Belknap ordered the work on the Quartermaster's 
building to be commenced, and the appropriation previously voted by Congress, in 
accordance with the acceptance of the land grant from the city, was directed to be 
applied for. The magnificent Post resulting from this action has been already 
described. 

The Posts of Texas were put in telegraphic communication with each other, 
and the Government in 1876. Owing to the extension of railway lines and other 
telegraphic companies, these wires were disposed of to the Erie Telegraph Com- 
pany, December 6th, 188o. 

In 1882, on behalf of the Belgian Government, Professor Housseau estab- 
lished a station on Government Hill for the observation of the Transi: of \'enus 
and for the collection of other astronomical data. The Professor came in August, 
the Transit taking place December "idth. He succeeded in getting 120 measure- 
ments, and Professor Hall, the American observer, obtained 204 jihotographs. 

The distinguished men who have visited and commanded at the Post of San 
Antonio, are personages whose lives and doings are part of a larger history than 
that of this Department. Thej^ have come and gone, the blue and the gray, be- 
fore and since the war. Theirs has been a record of dut\' performed, be it grap- 
pling with a redskin or charging at Gettysburg. In the mesquite wilderness, with 
none to note, they bore themselves as men and, even .so, under the apple trees 
at Appomattox with the world looking on.* 

Somebody has said that the truly brave man is he that will do in solitude the 
most daring deed he might conceive before men. Surely this is so, and men of 
this kidney have made the Department w^hat it is. They have guarded our 
frontier and, aided by a gallant population, have settled the Indian question in 
Texas. San Antonio, in the past, has seen much of the captured tribes — villains 
of a most villainou? type — the last to be brought in being the notorious Geronimo 
and his band. They were en route for location in Florida and were captured by 
Captain Lawton after a long pursuit in the mountains of Arizona. 

The present commander of the Department is Brigadier General Stanley, a 
gentleman who has endeared himself officially and personally to the State at 
large. His stay has been marked b\' a constant exchange of friendly courtesies 
with the people amongst whom he has come to dwell. His name also brings our 
record to a close, and we tnust it may be long before another follows. 

Note. — Col. Withers was the Adjutant (Veneral of the Dei)artnient in iS.")7-S-9-l)o, serving on the staff of the 
following remarkable men : .\lbert Sydney Johnson, General Twiggs and that best beloved of men. Robert H 
Lee. The .\djutants General at Headquarters, after the War, were Colonels Wood and Taylor and Generals 
Vincent and Rngglcs. At the present time Col. Martin is the incumbent. 

* This is no figure of speech. Fitz-hugh Lee, as a Lieutenant iiiidtr Van Dnrn. was reported mortally 
wounded in an Indian fight. The parallel, moreover, applies to all. 



CHURCHKS. 31 

CHURCHES. 

Roman Catholic. — The stroii.e;est body of Christians in the- city is that 
of the ])ioneer faith. The Roman Catholic Chiirclies are well huilt and well 
attended. Ofcour.se, the old Missions down the valley are of this Church. Their 
members are of many languages, as will be seen below\ The city is the seat of a 
Bishopric, of which the Rt. Rev. Bishop Neraz is the present incumbent. The 
following is a list of Churches : 

Cathedral of San Fernando, (Spanish) fronting Main Plaza ; reached by 
Belknap cars. 

St. Joseph's, (German ) north side of Mast Commerce street; Belknap cars. 

St. Mary's, (English) St. Mary's street. 

St. Michael's, (Polish) •".■-'d South Street. 

Ursaline Convent Chajicl, corner Augusta and Convent streets. 

There is also a Chapel at the Santa Rosa liosjiital. This Hospital is one 
of the most important and beneficent of the fruits of Christianity in the town. 
The other Catholic institutions are an Orphanage, a College for males, the Ursu- 
lin<' Conventual School for girls, and many parochial schools. 

Episcopalian. — San Antonio is the seat of the Missionary Bishopric of 
Western Texas, Rt. Rev. Bishop Johnston at pre.sent presiding over the see. The 
Churches are : 

St. Marks, north side Travis Square, Rev. W. R. Richardson, Dean. 

St. John's, northeast corner North Cherry and I'.urnet streets. 

St. Luke's, northeast corner Zavalla and North Leona streets. 

St. Paul's, south side Grayson street, on Government Hill. 

One of the results of Kpiscopalian effort is St. Mary's Hall, a high-class 
school for .girls. 

Presbyterian. — First Presbyterian Church, corner of Houston and 
North I'lores streets ; reached b)' Belknap cars, San Pedrf) and Flores Street 
lines. 

Madison Square Church, reached by Belknap cars, San Pedro and Flores 
Street lines. 

Cumberland Presbyterian Church, ;>'24 Soledad street. 

Fourth Ward Prcslnlerian Sunday School, 4:>f) South Presa street. 

Baptist. — I'irsl Baptist Church, Travis S(iuare. 

Alamo Baptist Church, northeast corner Nacogdoches and Crockett streets. 

Aransas Pass Mission, corner South Flores and Herff streets. 

International Mission, corner Frio and Hidalgo streets. 

Sunset Mission, corner Burleson and Cherry streets. 



32 SAN ANTONIO I)]'; BEXAR. 

Methodist.— Methodist Episcopal Church South, Travis Square. 

Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, southwest corner Avenue C. and Pecan 
street. 

Methodist Episcopal, south side Crosby street. 

German Methodist Episcopal Church, 2o0 Villita Street. 

Mexican Methodist Episcopal Church, southwest corner Pecan and San 
Fernando streets. 

Tenth Street Methodist Church, south side Tenth Street. 

Jewish. — Temple Beth-El, Travis Square, a Synagogue the place of 
worship of the influential Hebrew citizens. Rev. M. P. Jacobson, Rabbi. 

The City Hospital. — in the western part of the city. It may be, not 

inaptly, mentioned here, as an evidence of the practical religion of the city 
Government. 

Many other denominations are represented, but this list will suffice for the 
spiritual needs of the majority of visitors. It should be mentioned, however, 
■ that the colored people have manj' places of worship- — Catholic, Methodist and 
Baptist. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

Schools. — Education is well cared for in San Antonio. There are manj' 
private institutions of great efficiency, for both .sexes, and the denominational 
establishments have been already noticed. 

The Public Schools are the pride of the city. There are twelve school 
buildings, all excellent, and under Superintendent Smith. There are about 
seventj'-five teachers of trained ability in charge of a scholastic population largely 
in excess of that of any other city in the State. 

The Central Grammar and High School is situated on Acequia street ; 
Professor Schoch, Principal. It may be reached by the Belknap cars, San Pedro 
Ime. There are, besides, eight Ward Schools for whites, and three for the colored 
people. The colored people having, perhaps, most accommodation in proportion 
to population, than the whites, were not the latter supplemented by tlie denom- 
inational and private effort before referred to. 

The German-English School should be nienlioned, as being an old established 
high-class day school, and somewhat of a land mark. It is situated on South 
Alamo street, and may be reached by the Belknap line of street cars. 

Let us glance at the history of Public Education in San Antonio since the 
good Mission P'athers gave up their labor of love and patriotism. 

The first mention of an American School in Texas is in a document 
in the Bexar County Records, dated July -"jth, 1S2.S, referring to the " McClure " 
School. This was under Mexican rule, and was probably an institution started 
for the benefit of the growing Anglo-Saxon colony. About this time there 
existed, also, a Spanish Public School, on the east line of the Military Plaza, near 
the Cathedral. After this, and until l(S;3i), education in San Antonio received 



EDUCATIONAL 38 

little attention. In that j-ear the corporation evidently saw the necessity of a 
system of Public Education, and the question aroused general interest, for we find 
that on February 14th, 183!), J. H. Winchell proposed to the City Council to open 
a public school on the first of March ensuing, and offers to teach all that may 
enter therein, the English language, together with peinnanship and arithmetic, 
provided the number shall not exceed thirty pupils. All this for the sum of $S()() 
per annum, payable quarterly or monthly, as the honorable body may think 
proper. 

His system of in.struction, the good man goes on to say, has met with 
general approbation, as heretofore pursued by him, but he admits that it is 
susceptible of much improvement, which he is willing to effect, providing suffi- 
cient emoluments Ijc given him, and begs a committee of three to examine fully 
into the merits of his system and to report thereon. 

Again this subject of education comes up on June 'id, 1.S44, when P. L. 
Buquor (a well known old City Official) presented a memorial urging the utility 
of opening a Public School, and .stating that he is willing to undertake to do so 
if sufficient encouragement be given him by the Council. A committee was 
thereupon appointed, and it reported substantially as follows on June '2'.)th, 
1844 : 

The committee are of opinion that the law for incorporating the city, passed 
December 14th. is;!?, makes it obligatory upon the Council to encourage by every 
means in their power the opening of a public .school, and also to have a Court 
House and Jail, and the report goes on to recommend a plan to accomplish these 
things, and also to repair the old Court House, (this is prior to the ' Bat Cave ") 
and fit it up in such a manner as to serve for both Court House and School 
House. Certain lots were to be appropriated to this object, for Section 8 of the 
Charter set aside certain lots for this purpose and for the endowment of a Public 
School. This was recommended to be done as soon as the lots would fetch a 
rea.sonable price. For some reason the land was not ordered to be sold uutil 
August L'lth, 1849. See Article "The River." Out of the proceeds of this 
sale and in accordance with the recommendation, the " Bat Cave " was built. 

J. N. Devine, in a long address on January 15th, 1841), urged the questions 
of education, peace, law and order very forcibly upon the people. His action 
produced the effect of a "Sunday Closing" ordinance, April oth, 1849, for the 
closing of Bar Rooms, Workshops, etc., after 9 o'clock A. M , on Sunday. He 
al.so closed the Fandangoes for awhile. We mention these things to show that a 
spirit of reform was abroad, and from this epoch San Antonio has been ever 
watchful and generous in the matter of Public Education. Indeed, at this time 
ihe tide set in which changed San Antonio from a blood-.stained border town to a 
progressive and prosperous modern city. And to-day there is an inherited 
tradition of liberality toward Public Schools. 

International Fair Grounds and Buildings.— These are situated 

about three miles south of the city in a fine park on the banks of the San An- 
tonio river and are used for an annual fair and other gatherings. The buildings 
are handsome and spacious and among other attractions is a good race course. 



34 SAN ANTONIO DK BEXAR. 

The grounds are reached by the Aransas Pass railway with a depot in tlie 
adjacent park, and from town direct by the McCrillis electric cars. 

The president of the association is Mr. A. C. Schryver, whose office is on 
Commerce street near the bridge. The grounds were established in the fall of 

1SS8 and the military encampment of the state militia was held here in 1 SDO. 

Riverside Park. — A beautiful sylvan pleasure ground, with lovely 
drives and groves of giant pecan trees, whose fruit is the delicious Texas nut of 
that name. 

It is the very place of all others for pic-nics, with the river, the Missions San 
Jose and Concepcion adjacent, and the Exposition Park and buildings across the 
fence. There is a fine pavilion in the grounds and arrangements for refreshments. 
It is reached by the San Antonio & Aransas Pass railway when there is a crowd, 
and always from town direct by the McCrillis system of electric cars. 

San Pedro Park. — A city park about a mile from the center of the 
town. Here are the lovely San Pedro Springs with stretches of green-sward and 
groves of stately live oaks, a southern evergreen that always makes us seem a 
summering. Pecan trees and shrubbery abound. Refreshments may be had, and 
there is a collection of birds and animals well worth a visit. It may be reached 
by Belknap System Cars. This park is a remnant of the former magnificent do- 
main of the city. In olden times it was a favorite resort of the Indians, and an- 
other fact of interest connected with the locality is, that the Canary Island set- 
tlers dwelt there for a short time previous to their removal to San Fernando. 
Vide Dr. Cupples' reminiscences. 

Opera House. — Situated on the west side of the Alamo plaza, fronting 
the garden antl almost opposite the Menger hotel. It is a veritable "Bijou" 
and during the season. Opera and the legitimate, follow each other unceasingly. 
The building is the home of the San Antonio Club, tasteful in all things. This 
admirable institution is treated of at length el.sev,'here. 

Turner Hall. — A fine hall for public meetings; concerts and other at- 
tractions hold the boards throughout the season. 

Casino Hall. — An elegant room attached to the Casino club. The home 
of a famous German association. This hall is frequently used for concerts and, 
nearly always, for the larger select dances and gennans that take place during 
the winter. It has pleasant parlors, is prettily decorated, and located in a re- 
tired bend of the river in the heart of the city. 

Convention Hall. — A hall erected on Flores and Hou.ston streets for 
the accommodation of the State Democratic Convention of 1890. There are 
other halls in the city, but these are all that will interest the tourist. 

Newspapers. — The San Antonio Daily Express (morning) is the lead- 
ing journal of the city, as of Western Texas. It is devoted to the interests of 
its section, and, while democratic in politics, it is blessed with a large share of 
refreshing independence and the brightest staff of newspaper men in the state. 



NKWSl'A PICKS, IvTC. 35 

Its quarters are on Coinnierce street, and with its new press, stereotyping appar- 
atus and airy offices, Die lout cmcmblc is a credit to journalism anywhere. 

The San Antonio Daily Times (evening) is a sturdy democratic sheet. It 
claims to be the heir of the San Antonio Daily Herald (the earliest Texan daily) 
and is a pushing paper convinced of the great destiny of its city, and untiring in 
furthering; its progress. 

The San Antonio Daily Light, (evening) Republican. "The only 
Republican daily of the State,'' a newsy and al)ly edited journal. It makes local 
items a specialty, and is energetic in promulgating its principles according to the 
Light that is in it. 

The Express has a good "semi-weekly" edition, and the Times a weeky one. 

The Freie Pre.s.se fur Texas is also puhli.shed here with a daily and weekly 
edition. It is a very influential German paper. 

El Heraldo is a Spanish weekly for tho.se citizens who prefer the language. 

The Te.xas Stockman is what its name indicates, and circulates all over the 
State, being the recognized medium of the enormous stock industry of Western 
Texas. 

There are other minor puljlications, and a Monthly Magazine, the Texas 
Field, devoted to sport. 

Stock Yards — On South Flores street are many lots given up to the 
Horse and Mule trade. Here may be seen the true and only Cowboy, and with 
little difficulty in the matter of introductions, the tourist may make the 
acquaintance of stockmen whose flocks and herds browse upon a thousand hills. 
Here, too, may be met many a ((ueer liorder type as may be noted in the 
accompanying illustrations taken from life. 

City Additions. —The suburban Additions to the town are numerous, 
and enormous sums have been spent in land. Electric Street Railways and 
Landscape Gardening for their development. The most important are the West 
End, the Alamo Heights, the Lake View, East End, Beacon Hill, and Southern 
Heights. It would be invidious to compare them. The visitor will find ample 
facilities to visit them all. 

Artesian Wells.— The finest Artesian Well of the State is the natural 
one formed l)y the Springs of the Head of the San Antonio River. This water 
comes from an enormous depth, being of an even temperature of 70° Fahr. the 
year round. It affords the purest possible drinking water, and is San Antonio's 
chief blessing. It is evident that there are several water-bearing strata, all arte- 
sian and of considerable volume, in the neighborhood. Mr. Brackenridge is 
having a well bored which is already '2"><)() feet deep, but artesian water has not 
j'et been struck : the boring however will continue to the depth of ."i(MH) feet. 

The Kampmaim well, sunk on the Salado to a depth of -l(i.") feet, yields a 
strong sulphur water, used for medical purposes. 

The Crystal Ice Factory has a well of pure water at a different depth, flowing 
.several hundred thousand gallons per diem. 



86 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

The Scholz well, on the River bank, flows water slightly brackish, and by 
a separate pipe the same well supplies his establishment with gas. 

At West End clear Artesian water was reached at a depth of only 250 feet in 
one case, and 250 in another. These wells have their overflow into the artificial 
lake of that suburb. In boring most of these wells, oil and gas were encountered, 
but the most notable instance of this is that of Mr. G. Dullnig, near the Salado. 
It has a flow of oil which is marketed. The apparatus on the ground is 
extensive and altogether this subject is worthy the attention of visitors with 
capital to invest. 

Real Estate- — There are many reliable and old established Real Estate 
firms in the city. The stranger should consult onl>- such, and if purchasing, it is 
well to get an abstract of title: this is easily obtained. 

Amongst all the States, Texas is peculiar in her land matters, and differs in 
many things, even from her ancient Spanish sisters. The United States owns no 
public lands within her borders, save such small tracts and parcels as may have 
been ceded for Military Posts. Cemeteries, or Public Buildings for Federal 
purposes. The old Spanish vara i^Vol inches) is still a legal land measure, 
though, curiously enough, the Mexicans have long since discarded its use for that 
of the metre. We speak, too, of o '' league," of a " labor," or of a " suerte " 
of land. The titles to land in Texas are very variously derived and their origin 
frequently curious. We have grants from the Kings of Spain, ^= grants to colonists 
and individuals by the Republic of Mexico, and similar concessions by the 
Republic of Texas. Then there are Headrights. and Locations on Scrip, issued to 
supply the necessities of the infant State, or to reward veterans. Later we have 

* Yoakum, who has done more for Texas History than any other man has or now can. relates an interest- 
ing chapter on Land Titles iu Texas. The following is an interesting excerpt. Vol. li, pp. 231 et seq,: 

"The first grants of the Spanish government in Texas of which we have any record, are those of the three 
Missions of Concepcion, San Juan, and La Hspada. The grants for the Missions of V'alero and San Jose were 
doubtless made earlier, and probably some individual grants, but we know of none now in existence. The three 
first-named Missions were located in the first instance on the St. Mark; but such was the difficulty of procuring 
water for irrigation, 'so necessary to the support of the people who were to be indoctrinated,' that on the 2()th 
of October, 17211, the viceroy of Mexico. Casa Fuerte. commissioned the Governor of Texas, the ex -guardian of the 
apostolic college of (jueretaro, and the president of the Texan Missinus, to make a new settlement or location. 
After some search, they made their selections of three places— two on the San Antonio river, and one on the 'Me- 
dina.' below the junction of the two streams. They next proceeded to the neighboring tribes of Indians, to 
whom "they spoke, and explained the holy and benevolent purpose of their institution; and three tribes, among 
others in the vicinity, viz.. the Paeans, the Pajaiats, and the Pita/acs, agreed lo settle the three places selected, 
and to submit to doctrine.' The commissioners, having completed their labors, made a report to the viceroy- 
and petitioned him to make the necessary decrees. The viceroy laid the matter before Ribera. former inspector 
of the //-<>/(//(),« of New Spain for his opinion. The ex-inspector reported on the 22d of September, 1780, con- 
curring with the report of the commissioners, except in regard to the location for the lower Mission 'on the 
Medina river, at thirty leagues' distance from the presidios (San Antonio and La Bahial, where it may be liable 

to attacks from the Apaches, who on many occasions appear in a hostile manner in that territory This 

danger would not exist if the said Mission were located iu the same vicinity with the other two." 

The viceroy, in conformity with this opinion, on the 2d of October, 1730, decreed that the captain of the 
royal presidio of San Antonio, should issue a decree that the three Missions should be located as recommended 
using his judgment as to the plan of locating the lower Mission. He further ordered that each Mission so to 
be located 'be furnished with three soldiers for the term of two years, this time being considered necessary for 
the instruction of the Indians in tillage, and at the expiration of this time one soldier shall remain in each Mis. 
sion. the other two returning to their corps.' 

On the l')th of December, 1730. the captain of the presidio of San Antonio de Bexar, in pursuance of this 
order of the viceroy, remitted the same to Don Gabriel Costales, captain of the presidio of La Bahta del Espiritu 
Santo, with orders to execute it, he being delegated as judge for that purpose, in the absence of any public or 
royal notary. In making a return of his proceedings, Captain Costales says; 'A dispatch was presented to me 
from the most excellent viceroy, through the captain of the royal presidio of San Antonio, which I kissed and 



RIvAL livSTATK. 37 

the State granting sections to Railway, Canal and Irrigation Companies, and 
issuing scrip to Confederate veterans. The State has still a vast domain subject 
to homestead entry, and the University and School land endowments are princely. 
The State Capitol, at Austin, was built by disposing of ;!,()()0,O()() acres of ])ublic 
lands to a Chicago syndicate. Hence, it will be seen that Real Estate in Texas 
is a large question. 

To be seized of a piece of property is an old English law phra.se, and means 
to own it : The following curious ceremony of taking possession smacks strongly 
of that old-time expression, and .seems to lend point to the poor joke of William 
the Conqueror who, falling to the ground upon stepping from his boat at 
Hastings, quieted the ill-omened fears of his followers by remarking that he was 
only taking "seizin' " of the laud. 

Here is the record : "I took said Simon de Arocha and proceeded with 
him over the said property, and he pulled weeds and threw rocks and made other 
nece.ssary demonstrations in actual jiossession, calling upon the adjoining property 
holders to show cause why he should not be put in possession." April 21 , 1778. 

Other induction ceremonies refer to the grantee as " throwing stones to the 
four winds of Heaven," " driving stakes " and performing such like ceremonies. 

The original City Grant from the King of Spain having been lost in the 
troublous revolutionary days, the city found it advisable to sue out its title, con- 
sequently, on February 26th, 1845, an agreement was entered into with T. J. 
Devine to prosecute certain trespas.sers upon the city domain. The consideration 
the attorney was to receive, was one-eighth of the assessed value ot land recov- 
ered and SI 00 per year in addition thereto for no longer a period than five years, 
or to receive nothing if he did not prosecute successfully. Then followed the 
celebrated suit of the City versus Nat Lewis, senior, in which the City sues Nat 
Lewis and others for certain lands specified to be within the confines of the 
Original Royal Grant to the people and inhabitants of the town of " ,San 

placed ou my head, as a message from my king and natural lord, which with blind obedience I obey, and am 
ready to execute whatever it commands.' Upon this return, the captain of the presidio of San Antonio, on the 
12th of January, 17:U, decreed the establishment of the Missions named. All these formalities being attended to, 
and the acts of each party written down, and attested by assisting witnesses, the captain of San Antonio pro- 
ceeded ou the -^th of March. 17-il, to the first Mission-ground, called Our I.ady of the Concepcion de Acuila. 
accompanied by several of the officers of the presidio, and Father Uergara. and seized the hand of the captain of 
the tribe, in the name of all the other Indians who had attached themselves to said Mission, and led him about 
over the locality, and caused him to ])uU up weeds, throw stones, and perform all theother acts of real possession, 
that by virtue thereof they might not be dispossessed without being first heard and detended by Father Hergara, 
president of the Texas Missions, or such other of the clergy as might have administration over tbeni. Afler 
declaring the bounds of the Mission, there was attached to it pasture-lands, watering-iilaces. irrigatnig privileges, 
uses, and services, and the further right, in planting time, to drive their stock out west for pasture, so as not to 
prejudice the crops. The act of possession concluded by notifying the Indians, through an interpreter, what 
they should do in advancement of Christian doctrine, and in avoidance of crime. 

At the same time. Captain Perez proceeded to put other tribes in possession of the Mission-grounds of San 
I^rancisco de /a EspaJa, and Aati Jitan, situated below, on the San .\ntonio river: the same formality being 
observed in each case. The record of the titles (which, as will be .seen, is a simple narrative of the action of each 
partyi was then filed in the archives of San Fernando de Hexar. and a certified copy furnished to each Mission. 
It will be obser^'cd. in the foregoing abstract of the transfer, that the title was assmned to be in the king of Spain, 
and that the transfer was to the Indians, and not to the priests, who. by their vows, could own no worldly estate. 

In regard to the Mission-lands of San Jose de Agnayo, they were claimed by Don Domingo Castelo. one of 
the king's ensigns, for his sen-ices at the presidio of San Saba: but, after a protracted lawsuit between him and 
the Mission, the title was vested in the Indians of the Mission, ou the "*th of November, ITllli, by purchase, for 
one hundred and fifty dollars." 



38 



SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 



Fernando" (San Antonio). The Lower Courts first decided and established the 
boundaries of the Original Grant to the cit)' (John James, Sr. , surveying the same)* 

and gave judgment for the city. The Supreme Court affirmed the decision, and 
upon this rests the title to all lands situated within the " Town Tract," as it is 
now called. Vide : Tex. Rep. \'ol. \'II. pp. 2S.S, et seq. 

Passing from the old-time reflections and recollections the reader's attention 

is invited to the following remarkable table for which we are indebted to the 

daily press. It shows the comparative sales during the first six months of the 

years 18.S!) and 1.S90 : 



Jauuary, 1889. . 
Janiiary. 1890. . 
February, 1889.. 
February, 1890.. 
March, 1889 . . 
March, 1890 . . 
April, 1889. . . 
April, 1890 . 
May, 1889 . 
May, 1890 . . . 
June, 1889 . . 
June, 1890 



171,045 
574,889 
100,315 
397.559 
19),8:i2 
704.247 
293,441 
132,184 
319.438 

1.489,692 
183 198 

1.1104 o02 




* October 29, 1849. The Council resolved to ask the I'nited States Minister to Madrid to secure a 
copy of the Original Grant to the Corporation or town of San Fernando, in the Province of Texas or New 



PUHIJC HWILDINGS. 39 

Public Building's. — The Alamo church, amply treated elsewhere. The 
F'ederal Building affording accommodation for the Federal Court and Postoffice 
(for dates see calendar) was designed by M. E. Bell, of Chicago, who was super- 
vising arcliitect at Washington under President Arthur's adniiuistration. The 
original plan was modified, in the direction of economy, by VV. A. Freret, of 
New Orleans, during President Cleveland's term. Mr. Gordon of this city being 
appointed architect in charge, again re-arranged the building in its present form. 
Under his direction, the structure grew to be the beautiful mediaeval dream that it 
is. Its details are worthy of careful study. The style n\ay be called Richard- 
sonian Romanesque with a touch reminding one of I_vOmbardy and the South of 
France. Notice the tower and the bold angle turret — the arcades whose pro- 
portions are so cleverly relieved b>' the flight of approaching steps — the beautiful 
mass of the building, and the construction and outline of the tile roof. 

The City Hall, a Renaissance Building designed by Mr. O. Kramer, and 
now nearing completion on Military Plaza. Its location is the best possible one, 
and the effect of the four white facades of native lime-stone relieved by pink 
granite columns, is extremely fine. 

The County Jail is a massive and serviceable building designed by Mr. A. 
Giles. 

The County Court House on Soledad street by the same gentleman completes 
the list of public buildings. 

PhiUipines. What came of this we arc unable to sny. The field notes of the town tract are as follows : 

F. I pp. 28, 2q. I Rr;rrBI.IC of TK.VAS,— county of bexar. 

COVNTY Sl'RVKVOR'S RKCORDS. - 

BEXAR COUNTY. ) FicM Notes of the survey of the lands claimed by the Corporation 

of the city of San Antonio, made nnder au order of the District Court of Bexar Connty, at the Sept. term. 1H^5. 

Ileginningr at an old stone dam on the Coucepcion ditch from the southeast corner of which a pecan ;iO in. 
in diameter bears south 27° west, 7'., varas. this place being pointed ont to me as the presita of the Concepcion 
ditch, by Rafael Herrera and Manuel Cadena. 

Theiice north S:l° east. (iSOO varas to a pecan tree 10 in. in diameter, on the west bank of the Salado creek, 
marked x from which a pecan 9 in. in diameter bears south 70° west, !;, vara; a pecan Ki in. diameter bears 

north 58i<°, west 16^ varas. This point was shown to me as the Paso Hondo on Salado, by Rafael Herrera and 
Manuel Cadena. 

Thence north 35!^° west, 37SK) varas to a stake set on the top of a hill from which a mesquite S in. in 
diameter bears north 2.'J-*^° west. 42;4 varas, a mesquite ."Mn. diameter, bears north 84° west -IJ^ varas, this be- 
ing pointed out to me as the I,omtta Devisidera, by Manuel Cadena. 

Thence north i^^i^^ west, 1.700 varas to a mound of rock, shown by Pedro Hlores and others as one of the 
corners of this tract. Thence north 52- i° west. 10.000 varas to a pile of rocks round the roots of a live oak tree, 
now nearly destroyed by fire, from which a live oak I'l" diameter bears south 75° east, 9 varas. a live oak 0" diam- 
eter be;irs south 10Jj° east. 7 varas. This point is between the Almas {sic) and Norillo creeks, and was shown to 
me by Manuel Cadena as one of the corners of this survey. Thence south 21M^° west, 11.77.5 varas to a stake set 
on the east bank of a small creek at a water hole from which a hackberry on west side of the creek bears south 
S5° west. 50 varas. a mesquite 2 in. diameter, bears south :W!-° west, 12',:? varas. this i>oint being shown to me by Do- 
mingo Bustillo, Dclgado and others as one of the corners of this survey, called the real of San Nicolas, or Tomas 
Hernandez. Thence south I2.M10 varas to a stake set on the east bank of the Leon creek, at the present crossing 
of the road leading from San Antonio to Jett's rancho. from which a mustiuite {sio H) inches diameter, bears 
north !)° east. SJ varas. a musquite .'i inches diameter, bears south (U° east. :15 varas. This point shown to me by 
Manuel de la Oarza and Dclgado as the pass of the acalitos and one of the corners of this survey. Thence 
south 2S^ east, 2400 varas to a Cottonwood tree 12 in. diameter in the bed of the I.eon creek, from which a pecan 
(i in, diameter bears south 57 ° east, 5 varas, a pecan ♦! in. diameter bears south 14'/^® west, K-}/^ varas. This 
point was shown to me by Pedro Plores and others as the I/Aguila. {sic) one of the corners of this sun-ey. 
Thence north :"-"i ° east, 12.010 varas to a pass on the San Pedro creek, shown to me as the Paso Nogalilos by 
Pedro Klores and others as one of the corners of this sur\'ey. Thence south >iS'~,. ^ east. 2655 varas to a stone 
dam, the place (»f beginning, including within its limits thirty-eight thousand acres of land. 

This survey was commenced on the 1st and ended on the llth day of February. IHI({. Nathaniel Melton 
and James Cocks, chaiumeu, who were duly sworn. Bearings marked j. 

Then follows John James* sworn certificate of Sur\'ey. This survey does not actually closr, and was after- 
wards corrected as to course and distance by r.iraud. The natural marks, however, here described are the 
basis for establishing the boundaries of tlu- Town Tract 



40 SAN ANTONIO UE BEXAR. 

Banks. — San Antonio is a wealthy city. There are no less than four Na- 
tional and six Private Banks, all stable institutions. They occupy palatial quar- 
ters. Bank failures in the city are unknown. The bank rate of interest is from 
eight to twelve per cent. There are many mortgage and loan institutions who 
furnish money on good security at six per cent. There is, moreover, a Local In- 
surance Company, the directory of which is made up of our wealthiest citizens. 

San Antonio Club. — This institution was founded by the a.ssociation 
of a party of gentlemen who obtained a charter dated December 21st, 
1881. It was instituted for "literary purposes, to promote social intercourse 
among its members and to provide them the convenience of a Club House." The 
following were the original incorporators ; Messrs. E. D. L,. Wickes, H. B. An- 
drews, Jas. T. Thornton, C. K. Breneman, Erastus Reed, A. B. Frank, J. B. 
Lacoste, H. B. Adams, Frank Grice, F. P. Hord, Jas. Callaghan, Thos. J. 
Devine and H. Grenet. The club is managed by a committee of thirteen direc- 
tors elected annually ; their terms expire on the .'JOth of November of each year. 
They elect from among their number a president, vice-president, treasurer and 
secretarj- and have power to fill vacancies. Thej' also pass upon the admission 
of members. Their meetings are on the first Tuesday of each month at S o'clock 
p. m. in winter and 8:30 p. m. in summer. The president, or in his absence the 
vice-president, authorizes the call of special meetings of directors or of the club. 
The finst president was E. D. L. Wickes, Esq., and he held the office many 
years. The present president is A. W. Houston. The club installed itself .speed- 
ily after its formation in a suite of rooms ( now occupied by the Harmony club) 
at the corner of Alamo Plaza and Alamo street abo\e the old postoffice, but 
soon set about plans for a more suitable home. Eventuallj' a comprehensive 
scheme was realized and the present club and opera house was occupied in the 
winter of 1886-87. The building fronts on Alamo Plaza, it is of brick and is al- 
together a tasteful structure. Here the club fulfils its ends and during the sea- 
son dispenses a hospitality that has become proverbial. Its receptions are among 
the great social functions of the winter, and its attentions to distinguished stran- 
gers who deserv'e well of their fellow-men have been iinuimerable. Members have 
the privilege of introducing visitors who are non-residents of the county. The 
present secretary is W. A. Little, Esq. 

Other Clubs. — .^re the " Harmony," a coterie of influential Hebrews; 
"The San Antonio Rifles,'' inaugurated by a compau}- of volunteers of that 
name ; The " Casino," an old established German association : the Turners and 
various Singing, Literary and Shooting societies. 

Young Men's Christian Association.— This body has rooms on 
the corner of Alamo and Commerce streets, up stairs, temporarily. Mr. Rae 
will be found in charge and everybody is welcome to their Reading Rooms and 
Gymnasium. 

iVlilitary Organizations. — San Antonio has seen much of war in ear- 
nest and in the peaceful contests of competitive drilling has retained her military 
laurels. The San Antonio Rifles, under Capt. Badger, and the Belkna]5 Rifles, 
under Capt. R. Green, achieved a national reputation at Washington, and have 
won prizes at every inter-state and state drill thej' have attended. The Maverick 



■J- 



> 



c 
z 




THE WATERS OF .SAN ANTONIO AND SAN PEDRO. 



41 



Rifles, a younger company, has also distinguished itself. The armories of these 
companies are the scene of many pleasant informal hops during the season, and 
the members are otherwise a great soci;d force in the city. Many dates of interest 
in the history of these companies will lie found in the Calendar at the end. 

Friendly Societies. — All these organizations are very adequatel}' rep- 
resented here. The Masons are contemplating erecting a fine hall. The Odd 
Fellows are already installed in a magnificent building on Houston street. The 
Knights of Pythias are extremely strong, and the society comprises some of our 
most active business and professional men. 




The Waters of San Antonio and San Pedro. 



THE DITCHES OR ACEQUIAS. 



' He'll turn vour current in a ditch." 



-Shakespeare. 



And now comes a pleasant chapter to narrate, pleasant because it deals with 
that which makes San Antonio the naturally charming place that it is, pleasant 
because it deals solelj' with the efforts and arts of peace in a history that is only 
too full of the strivings of war, bloodshed and contention ; pleasant because it has 
to do with clear crystal springs rising in volume from unknown, mysterious 
depths, deep translucent pools and bubbling brooks, a .swirling river of pure 
living waters and the arborous accompaniments of foliage, high canopies of 
greenery, broad groves, great trunks and tangled vines, and with the plenty of 
fields of waving corn. Let imagination wander back to the time before the 
waters were in the least fouled by the contact of civilization, when the first 
Spanish Missionaries traveling over the drier western plains happed suddenlj' 
upon this valley, knowing little of it, and that little only by hearsay, how their 
hearts must have leaped at the sight of this aliundance of pure water, these strong 



Several of the smaller cuts in the letter-press are produced here by perinis-sion of I,. I'rang Si Co.. Hostou. 
and are copyrighted designs from their series of studies. 



42 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

constant springs, and goodlj' lands. They might have had within tliem a 
feeling of thankful exultation that their lot was cast for at least a brief space in 
pleasant paths. In these peaceful glades they might soon forget the lurking 
danger and hostility of the warlike natives : and overlooking the valley 
they might have concluded " Verily a river went out of Eden to water the 
garden ; and here are provided two, that river was divided into four heads, 
these by the blessing of God and our Lady Mary on our labors and resources 
shall be divided into many to water this second Eden." Some such an inspirtion 
was likely enough the origin of some of the older acequias or irrigation ditches. 
Or it may have been that the plain practical thought only occurred to them, 
" here is provided an abundance of water and fine facilities for irrigation, necessi- 
ties to the success of our undertakings and Missions. Let us take and have 
enough and to spare, for nature is lavish ; besides our converts and the people 
that shall be afterwards drawn here and .shall follow us soon, and shall enjoy and 
supplement our labors, — these will need it all by and by.'' It may be that this 
is nearer the truth, for that the Fathers were eminently practical and unselfish 
workers as well as thinkers has been proved by works which testify to this day. 
In these later days, when the Spanish domination is almost forgotten by the prevail- 
ing population, when the representing race of it is regarded simply as one of the 
attractive curiosities rather than one of the main historic quantities of the place, 
when the past and present influence of it is only keenly remembered by the 
lawyers, searchers after land titles and aspirants to local political emoluments 
(and honors) at election times, we are apt to forget how much we modern San 
Antonians owe to the right estimate that these men and their generation put upon 
the value of the water of this valley and their quick appreciation of the facilities 
for its distribution. San Antonio owes its very e.xistence to this estimate. For 
that it has been a city always more or less flourishing, it may thank these pioneers. 
Are we not now also — in our arrogance of the possession or rather enjoyment of 
an almost perfect modern system of water works, with its miles upon miles of 
iron pipes that was almost pressed upon the citizens like a dose of wholesome 
medicine upon a wilful and perverse child — only too prone to despise in our 
scientific superiorit)' these monuments of a simple wisdom and industry of the 
past. 

If any reader should weary at the length of these remarks on the " taking 
of the water," fsaca de agua) he may skip it ; but it must be written if only to do 
justice to the founders of our city, not to speak again of the pleasure of the task. 
Let this be the apology, if one be needed, for an article that may prove wearisome 
to some by reason of its length ; the editor has found that no such true estimate 
and understanding of the history, domestic and public, of the aims of these good 
old religious pioneers, and later their imitators in ditch construction, of " their 
useful toil their destiny obscure," nor indeed for that matter, the history and 
growth in the last century of the whole community, as by following up the 
gradual construction, fact of existence, and logic of these old water ways. The 
reader may judge for himself if it is not so, by following the story of one of these 
acequias from the discovery of its public necessity to the formation of a company 
of shareholders among those settlers mo.st nearly interested and concerned, to the 
obtaining of the permission from His Majesty, the King through his 



CONCKPCION DITCH. 43 

representative the Governor, to the settlement of the neighbors' real or fancied 
prior water rights, to the election or appointment of the Acequiero or Aceqniador 
(the constructor of acequias), to the actnal construction, and finally to that 
interesting operation of the drawing of lots among the shareholders of the 
company for the " suertes " of land which the King will grant to them upon the 
simple conditions of cultivating the lands thus granted, of keeping the channels 
clear and clean, the locks, water gates, sluices, fences, aqueducts, troughs, etc., 
of the ditches in proper repair, and one hor.se, and arms and ammunition in read- 
iness to meet enemies in the protection of the colony. On this line, from how 
they learned to grasp the natural water advantages of the valley, may he traced 
the true inwardness of the life and growth of the town in the eighteenth century, 
say from 17'29 to 1798, of its population gradually increased by soldiery, settlers, 
special immigrants as those from the Canary Islands, camp followers, adventurers 
and Indian converts. 

The main or madre acequias shall be herein described in as near chronolog- 
ical order as it is possible to make out. 



The Pajalache or Concepcion Ditch. 

This is the oldest of all the Acequias. The exact date of its construction is 
doubtful, hut it was begun early in the last century. In evidence in a lawsuit — 
Rhodes v. Whitehead — this date was given as 1729 (see Calendar of San Antonio, 
October, 22d, ISo.S). It is perhaps more probable that it was completed a few 
years later than this. It was finally abandoned in 1869, thus .serving its puqrose 
nearly 140 years. It was abandoned on account of the dam which provided it 
with water proving too great an obstruction to the river's current and a nuisance 
to the city during flood times. This dam was built across the river a short dis- 
tance above the town ford, and above the pre.sent dam of the old Lewis Mill, 
about on a line with Presa street. It was very high — some two or three feet 
higher than the Lewis dam. From this high level, through a deep cutting, the 
Pajalache ditch took its waters, and striking Garden street almost immediately, 
it followed the direct line of that .street to the Concepcion Mi.ssion, and 
thence on to join the River below, irrigating lands on its way by laterals. At 
the intersection of Mill and Garden streets, the Alamo Madre ditch, coming 
from Water street a few years later, met it, and the waters of this ditch were 
taken across on a substantial arched stone aqueduct, which exists now, only the 
arches have remained buried since the disuse of the Pajalache. Before or upon 
the abandonment of the Pajalache, in order that the compronii.se between the 
citizens and the holders of water rights might be as peaceably effected as possi- 
ble, part of the waters of the Alamo Madre were taken at this .same intersection 
into a new ditch down Garden street, to the left of and on a higher level than 
the Pajalache, but joining the old Pajalache channel below, and .so on to Concep- 
cion Mi.ssion. This was a .small enough ditch in comparison to the old one, but 
was better than no water at all. The main water of the Alamo Madre still 
crossed on the aqueduct and continued down Mill street, crossing this street 
some distance down, turning to the left and on to join the River below. 



44 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

A number of laterals issued from these ditches right and left, as from all the 
main ditches; but only those minor laterals that have some historical interest in 
themselves — such as the Alamo Mission branches — will be mentioned. 

The Pajalache ditch was made both wide and very deep, as may yet be 
traced on Garden street; of sufficient size — tradition has it — that the Fathers and 
their Indians kept a boat on it, from which to do the work of keeping its bed 
clean and clear of obstruction. The main object of this old acequia was to supply 
the Concepcion Mi.ssion and its lands with water. 

The San Pedro Ditch. 

This ditch comes next in point of interest. It was constructed to supply 
the Villa Capital de San Fernando as well as to irrigate lands along its course. 
It issues from the east side of the head waters of the San Pedro creek, taking 
its way towards and down North Flores .street crossing to Acequia .street and 
flowing across the west side of Main Plaza immediately under the front of San 
Fernando Church (Cathedral now), then still keeping to the east of South 
Flores street passes through the United States Arsenal grounds to the 
east side of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad Depot, on to join the 
San Antonio River, with a branch to the San Pedro Creek, in the fork of the Y 
of the River and Creek. As to the date of the construction of both this ditch 
and the Alamo Madre, the evidence is a little tangled. It cainiot be many 
3'ears the junior of the Pajalache. It is frequently mentioned in the docinnents 
relating to the Upper Labor ditch of 177(J to 1784 in the County and City 
Records and other documents, and at the earliest of these dates the San Pedro 
ditch had undoubtedly been in use many years. Such evidence in regard to these 
two ditches as has been found bearing upon the point will be given, and the 
reader may draw his own conclusions. A fuller description of the origin of the 
Upper Labor, the editor trusts, will in a measure make up for the lack of accurate 
knowledge as to these. In 1730 the Canary Island settlers came, and on 
November the "JSth of the same year, La \'illa Capital de San Fernando was 
founded and a Presidio " erected " under Antonio de Aviles, so says an ancient 
copy of the Ordinances of San Antonio. In 1738 the corner stone of the old 
Parish Church of San Fernando was laid, and on February 10th, 1773, that good 
Governor, Baron Ripperda, who .seems to have been so active in any matters 
that pertained to the welfare of San Antonio, built the first Quarters, Guard- 
house and Jail for the Presidio. Now, it is highly probable that the San Pedro 
ditch was completed just about the time of the building of the Parish Church. 
This period was very active in the prosecution of many public and ecclesiastical 
works. There is good reason to believe that it was constructed later than the 
Pajalache and earlier than some of the others. 

The Alamo Madre Ditch. 

The purpose of this ditch was to supply water to the Mission of San Antonio 
de Valero, or the Alamo Mission, and its lands. Its course was and is a long and 
useful one, and its carrying capacity is large. It has manj^ useful and historical 
laterals and branches, and some that are abandoned and some that were failures 
from the first. The course of the mother ditch (the laterals will be spoken of 



ALAMO MADRl'; DITCH. 45 

afterwards) is on this wise : After leaviiii>" its source, at one of tiie most easterly 
points of the head of the River, its meanderin.i^s follow a little to the east of the 
line of the road known as River Avenue, passing between the west end of the 
Government Post Reserve and the River, whence it goes on to a jjoint a little to 
the west of the Southern Pacific Depot, passing on through properties Ij'ing 
between Avenue li and Austin street : thence across llie junction of Nacogdoches 
street and Nolan street, across Crockett, Blum and Ivist Connnerce streets 
(nearly all this course was formerly irrigable land), down Water street, over the 
old Pajalache in an aqueduct ; thence down Mill street, across it, turning t(3 the 
left to the River l^elow. Its first notable branch (to go back again to its source 
and going down) was one which was called the \'alley Ditch, constructed from 
plans of Mr. Frei.sleben ; and wliich, Irom the time of its completion — about 
1S72 — proved to be an utter failure, and but a .sorry venture to the city, the 
engineer having made errors in the grade. It was almost immediately aban- 
doned. It issued from the Madre at a point at the extremity of Grand Avenue, 
near the Southern Pacific Railroad Depot, taking a south-easterly direction down 
Walnut street to a course left of the old Goliad road, over the south-eastern 
limits. The next branch — that one which issued from a jioint near the end of 
Fifth street (east), not far from the angle formed by Nolan and Nacogdoches 
streets, is of some historical importance. It makes at once for the eastern walls 
of the Alamo Mission, and may be seen close under the east end of the Alamo 
Church, and is said to have supplied the beseiged with water in that terrible strug- 
gle of ISMC). From here it passes on through the Menger Hotel court-yard ; 
thence to supply, in old times, the inhabitants of East Villita, joining the mother 
ditch once more near the intersection of Goliad and Water streets. This ditch 
was known as the ditch of the Alamo proper, and itself had a branch abandoned 
years ago, reaching around the north and west ramparts of the Alamo Mission 
square, passing along the west line of stores on our modern Alamo Plaza, 
through the Opera House ground, joining the River there at the back on 
Crockett street. Then another modern branch (about in the '()(t's) reached 
backward from the mother ditch on Martinez street toward Garden street, cro.ss- 
ing the old Pajalache in one of those curious acjueducts spoken of in the Spani.sh 
records as " canoa " — a canoe or hollowed log, of cj-press generally — ^joining 
the River immediately after crossing Garden street. The next branch was one 
already mentioned in the description of the Pajalache — a compromise ditch to 
the lands around Missicjn Concepciou. 

The Mission of San Antonio de Valero, as shown by Giraud, was moved to 
the east bank of the San Antonio River from the Post of San Jo.se, out West, in 
171.S, " on account of the .scarcity of water ; " but the building up of the Mission 
went on l)ut slowly, and the foundation of the Church was not laid until 1744. 
The date that this Mission supplied itself with water by means of the Acequia 
Madre del Alamo is uncertain. That it is one of the earliest ditches is certain. 
At any rate, it is placed here third in the order of chronology. One reason of 
the scarcity of mention of this ditch, may be found in the fact that the partition 
of the Alamo lands did not occur until 1793; so that it is not mentioned in deeds 
as a property boundary line until then ; but of course it was made manv years 
before that date. 



40 SAN ANTOXIO DE BEXAR. 

The Upper Labor Ditch. 

More particulars concerning tbe origin of this ditch can be given than of any 
of the others that have been described, and they are given in the belief that 
these particulars throw an interesting light upon the life and workings of a period 
in the history of San Antonio which cannot be regarded but curiously and in- 
quiringly. In the County Records may be found many documents and copies of 
decrees, ordinances, petitions and letters in the original Spanish relating to this 
Acequia, and in the City Engineer's office may be found translations of some of 
these and other documents, presumably sent from Coahuila, and from other 
sources have been obtained copies of translations of these with additions, notably 
a lengthy document, which, it is alleged, was published in the San Antonio 
Ledger on April 1st, 1852 ; all these are more or less tangled in their dates and 
abound in other clerical errors,* These dates have been compared and checked 
off as far as possible, and from this material has been gleaned most of the follow- 
ing information. 

In the first days of the year 177<), it was found to be desiraljle to irrigate 
lands lying between the upper part of the San Antonio River west and the San 
Pedro Springs. The matter was agitated among some citizens interested tuitil 

* The foUowiug is a specimen excerpt of the documentary evidence referred to, the translation does 
not seem to be very good, a few of the most conspicuous errors have been corrected. 
The first decree of the Goveruor. 

"Don Juan Maria de Ripperda. Baron of Ripperda. Colonel of Cavalry, Goveruor of this Province of Texas, 
its Missions and Conquests and Frontiers, Commander of Arms lor Forces) of the same and of Coahuila and 
Nueva Leon. Captain of the Royal Presidio of San Antonio de Bexar, by his Majesty the King. 

"Not having been practised up to this, the interesting and important conveyance of water, which operation is 
rendered so easy by the proximity of the San Antonio river to the city and garrison, and although in a commu- 
nication from the Viceioy, the Marquis Casa Fuerte dated September 20th, 1781, His Excellency ordered that the 
water of the two springs should be divided among the four first settlers that should come to this place, and Mis- 
sion with their families, allowing to them such hours of the day as might suit their convenience for the irrigation 
of their land, letting afterwards the waters to flow freely so as to give the same benefit to the next neighbors 
by such means all would be provided with plenty of water for their lands in cultivation without injuring each 
other. 

"In a second communication from the same Most Excellent Viceroy dated the 12th of May 17315 to the Governor 
of this Province, Don Antonio Bustillos y Cevallos. the order was given to distribute the waters ofthe San An- 
tonio river and the San Pedro creek among the Fathers ofthe ^Missions, the Garrison and all tlie settlers of the 
town of San Fernando giving to all the necessar\- supplys isio without depriving the Indians in their settle- 
ments, but with the condition that should the water at any time be insufificient to give to all continually a sup- 
ply, in such a contingency to be served by turns between all the neighbors, according to law 11. title 17. book 4. 
ofthe Recapitulation of the Indies, which states that iu case their town should increase in population, it was the 
imperious duty ofthe Governor to have all the inhabitants well supplied with water. 

"In compliance with the said law. the actual Governor (being sick at the time.) appointed Don Mateo Perez 
Lieutenant of this Company of Bexar with instructions to give possession ofthe right of water for irrigation to 
all the actual settlers, and for any other that might come in future, accordingly the right was given in due form 
on the '27th of October 17o;3. to all the settlers residing above the town ford on the same river, San Antonio, and 
with the intention of carrying into effect the taking of the water, several of the neighbors of this city and Pre- 
sidio have applied to me wishing to aid in its execution, and as all the families ofthe Canary Island settlers as 
well as all the rest of the inhabitants feel iutei est in it, according to former supenor decrees, and in order to 
avoid in future all motives of discord between settlers. I have ordered that if the said families of the Canary 
Island settlers, or their actual descendants should have any other document that taay prove in their favor, to pre- 
sent it to me within four days with the answer signed by all the persons, heads of said families, so that I may pro- 
ceed without delay to the construction of the work, it being of great importance. 

"In faith thereof I have signed this ray decree on January lOth ]77(i. 

"El B.A.Rl)N RlI'rKRD.\. 

"Acting as Judge Receptor with the witnesses of my assistance in the absence of a Notary Public, there being 
none in the Province, and on the present common paper not having an\' with the Royal Seal or stamp. 

HL BARON RIPPERDA. 
"Witnesses;— JOSE Ygnacio Orneles. 
Antonio Barcenaz." 
* * * *^ * And so on, the decrees, correspondence, etc., continue. 



UPPER LABOR DITCH. 47 

the Governor of the Province of Texas, Baron Juan Maria de Ripjterda, a pro- 
gressive and industrious man, directed his attention to it, and on January 10th, 
1776, he issued a decree in order to avoid, as he says, in the future, all motives 
of discord between settlers, ordering the Canary Island settlers or their actual 
descendents to ))roduce any document, if they have one, that might prove in 
their favor, and present it to him within four days, their reply to be signed by 
the heads of the said families. To this decree on January 15th, they reply that 
they have no document, but think there are some decrees or schedules in their 
favor, deposited in the Archives of this town, and they respectfully ask permission 
to be allowed to examine the Archives to search for these. This request is 
signed by eleven of the Canary Island settlers, or their descendents. 

The next day, January Kith, 177<), a meeting of the Cabildo is called by 
.special order of the Governor, and in the ]>resence of that coqioration, it was 
decided that all the documents Ijearing any relation with the town and the 
Canary Island settlers should be examined, and it was there and then declared 
that should any document be found in the Archives of the Captain-General, the 
right should be reserved to make use of them at any future time. A memoran- 
dum to this effect, besides being signed by the settlers, bears also the signature 
of the President, Father and Friar of the Mi.ssions Pedro Ramirez. 

Baron Ripj^erda next addresses a communication similar to the first- 
mentioned to the President of the Mi.s.sions, reiterating that there were only two 
documents or superior decrees in exi.stence in connection with the water rights 
granted to the Mi.ssions and settlers of the town and maintaining that the 
inhabitants of the place were free to u.se the water of the River for irrigating 
purposes if they did not interfere with the supply to the Missions. Those 
documents being decrees of the Viceroy the Marquis of Casa I-'uerte dated 
September 'idth, 17-'U, and May l'2th, 17Ho, therefore the Governor wishes to 
know if the Missions under the President's charge have any claim emanating 
from any superior decree. If they have, the Governor would like to be 
infonned of it as soon as practicable, " so that the public may be no longer de- 
prived of such a great benefit " as the distribution of the water. To which 
communication the President of the Missions replies, dating from the Mi.s.sion of 
San Juan, January 2()th, 177(), that none of the five Missions possesses any 
document in their favor in prejudice of the inhaljitants, he sees clearly, however, 
that the Mi.ssions being situated by Royal decree upon the banks of the River, 
with the rights of permanent and sufficient water for the cultivation of their 
lands, they have the jirior right of possession and construction of channels, he 
mentions this right in ca.se the Mi.ssions may wish to exercise it at some future 
time, but the President is not of the dog in the manger kind, and he says he is 
of the opinion that there is such a profusion of water in the River that it aflbrds 
to all the .same benefit, and the Missions will make no opposition under the one 
understanding that the right of priority be reserved to them. 

The Governor Rii>]ierda having thus satisfied himsell that he is trespassing 
on no one's proper rights, he desires that the two ch)cuments be filed under the 
understanding that any taking of the water nnist lie eflfected without injuring 
the supply to the Mi.ssions. He is also .satisfied that it has been clearly shown 



48 SAX ANTONIO DE BKXAR. 

and declared that there exists no other superior decree that might act in the 
favor either of the settlers or the " five towns of the Missions," he accordingly 
issues an ordinance requesting the neighbors and those who maj- wish to con- 
tribute to the taking of the water, to enlist themselves forthwith, contributing 
every one any and "necessary utensils," and the Baron promises that the 
partition of the lands " will be made with the due equity of chance." He insists 
that the person who may take charge of the work must possess intelligence and 
experience ; the election of the Acequiero to be decided by a plurality of votes 
among the shareholders. The Acequiero elected shall be entitled to an extra 
portion or suerte of land, but he shall furnish two additional men. The Gov- 
ernor then makes in his decree, numerous suggestions concerning the construction 
of the ditch, as to its protection from cattle by the planting of nopal trees 
(prickly pears) or other thorny bushes, and says that the water gates must have 
stone and mortar foundations and suggests other sensible precautions concerning 
the width, depth and general completeness of the work to be done. He is very 
thorough, but withal indulgent, and he says that all the persons engaged in the 
construction may .suggest any opinion that may contribute to the convenience 
and benefit of all, so that everything (lie loves peace — this good Governor) may 
move .smoothly and peaceably, for the end, he says, "of the respectable laws of 
his Catholic Majesty, is to avoid in his dominions all kinds of discords amongst 
his subjects." And in order that this important decree may be made known and 
promptly executed, " I have ordered its publication, after holding High Mass, at 
the beating of the drum at the door of the Court House, as cu.stoman.-." 

In the meanwhile, we ma}' surmise that things went along smoothly for 
a while, for nothing more is heard of the Upper Labor Ditch and its con,struction 
until July 13th, 1776, when we learn of the second election, in which one Angel 
Galin is elected over his opponent, Bartholome Seguin, to take the place of 
Foribio Fuentes, who, for "reasons by him expo.sed, which were found .suffi- 
cient," makes application to be relieved and to be awarded the emoluments in 
land, etc., to which he was entitled. He is relieved on July loth, on the condi- 
tion that he put two men daily on the work of construction until the new 
director shall bring the irrigation to a convenient place, which means that the 
first Suertes of land would be drawn for and granted when the water had been 
conveyed over sufficient land to warrant a partition. On the former date, July 
13th, the share-holders who seem to desire to profit by some undesirable experiences 
entered into a hard and fast agreement with Angel Galin, the newly elected Ace- 
quiero, in which he is bound to continue the work to its conclusion without the in- 
terference of any person, for the sum of one dollar per da}-, deducting the price of 
four men of the twenty-six to work daily, (the poor peones or laborers could not have 
made much above the price of their salt, according to this), and under no consid- 
eration whatever will a substitute be allowed him, and that those entitled to 
irrigation shall have the right to remove him, in case the work shall be badly 
directed, or for any "other motives that impartial persons may find, such as delay, 
bad work, directior. &c, " he is to inspect the work daily until the object of fur- 
nishing all the neighbors with water be accomplished, and lie binds himself to the 
completion of the contract "with all his present and future property." To all this 
Angel Galin is ready to agree, so he takes charge of the work. 



TIIK UPPlvR LABOR DITCH. Ill 

All these decrees of the Baron are dated, "in the town of San Fernando &c., 
&c.," now comes one however dated "In the Royal Garrison of San Antonio de 
Bexar, and city of San Fernando" on the 2.Sih day of April 1777, in which the 
Governor says, that he has been informed that the work has reached as far as La 
Lomita de Vieja, and tlial the first distribution of Snertes could be made to 
the twenty-five persons entitled to them and two for Foribio Fuentes, the Kx- 
Acequiero. Twenty-six chances contain •25,2;!;! varas of land, which are meas- 
ured for irrigation into portions of different lengths lying between the River and 
the Acequia. It is a pity to waste a season, and it is now April and the season 
for planting corn is passing, so the Governor orders the drawing at once to be 
made in the Court House of the town, giving admittance to all the persons inter- 
ested, (a complete list of the shareholders follows) and to everybody wishing to 
witness the operation. The twenty-six tickets are placed in one covered urn and 
the names in another, two children draw these, the Governor reads the results. 
Each shareholder draws his Suerte (literally his luck) of good rich acres of the 
Labor de Nuestra Seiiora de los Dolores, and it is granted to them by the king 
that they may take possession of it, and bequeath the titles to their children 
or any other heirs, and no other person or persons .shall at anv time have any 
claim or right in the said properties which have hitherto been considered as be- 
longing to the Crown af Spain. The Governor forthwith directs Don Simon de 
Arocha Lieutenant-General of the Province to give to those entitled, possession of 
their lands thus drawn, upon the simple conditions mentioned in the introductory 
to this subject. The .second and final drawing was held on the sth day of March 
1778, the total being fifty-two Suertes distributed, thus; first drawing, twenty-five 
among the shareholders; one extra to the ex-constructor who was also a share 
holder; second drawing, twenty-one among the shareholders; one extra to Angel 
Galin, con.structor who was also a shareholder; and four to be cultivated in com- 
mon, to cover some expen.ses; total fifty two Suertes. Perhaps it is a fact sufli- 
ciently interesting to notice, that the family of Rodriguez still occupies the land 
thus granted near the junction of this ditch and the San Pedro ditch. Every- 
thing is not cleared up however with regard to construction until April 2nd 
1781 when Angel Galin reporting that the ditch being newly cleaned, and the 
water turned in, he desires to be released from further obligations. And still the 
shareholders were not satisfied, and in 17S4 the quarrels over the Upper Labor 
ditch were waxing so hot, that the Governor by petition, used his influence to 
keep the peace. 

This ditch, the Upper Labor, taking its waters from the west side of the 
head waters of the San Antonio ri\-er, takes the course of the Rock Quarry Road, 
reaching around Tobin's Hill, across San Pedro avenue, joining the San Pedro 
ditch at the Rodriguez property near the west extremity of Laurel street, and b}- 
an overflow here really joins, acro.ss the narrow strip of land intervening, the San 
Pedro creek. From a point soon after it leaves the Rock Quarry road, a branch 
issues from it in a direction towards Madison Square, watering lands between that 
point and the San Antonio river. It has another more important but quite mod- 
ern branch in the Alazan ditch, this was constructed from plans made by Mr. 
Giraud in 1S72, and in reality carries the Upper Labor water north up San Pedro 
Avenue and around the San Pedro Springs to the west, then taking a .southerly 



50 



SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 



course irrigates all those lands west of the San Pedro creek. The I. & G. N. R. 
R. follows pretty closely its line as far as the ditch goes. This ditch finall}- joins 
the Alazan creek some little distance before that creek joins the San Pedro creek. 
It was finished and opened June '.Hh, IST"). It cost the city with the X'alley ditch, 
a branch of the Alamo Madre ditch, mentioned before, and constructed at the same 
date $o3,00n. The Alazan was a bold and practical conception, but the work 
seems to have been inadequately done. 

The control of the ditches has long since left private hands. The first Amer- 
ican manager of ditches was Capt. J. H. Beck in 1.S.30. In 1S.")S the citj- took 
them in hand and on January 1st of that year John Fries was appointed first Ditch 
Commissioner by A. A. Lockwood, mayor. That office is at present held by 
Mr. P'rank Huntress. 



The San Antonio River. 










But then I love its lazj- days' 
Perpetual blaze of bluest blue, 
Aud love to bask as oft I do 
Down where the river winds its ways, 
Where giant trees the Summer through 
Seem halls that echo wizard lays. 
Where all day long those lays are heard 
From throbbing throat of mocking liird 
Above the chorus crickets raise, 
Where most I miss the purple hue 
And scents of heaths and heather. 
And where I love to sing the praise 
Of Texas Summer weather. 

—The B. B. in' Texas. 



The story of the river as applied to 
the public interests of our city is a stor)' 
to make angels weep and to cause the 
alligators, if our river had an}', not only 
to shed crocodile tears, but to actual!}' 
feel sad, and this is all the more touching 
when it is considered that sadness must 
be a feeling strange to animals of such 
proverbially good digestions. Of coarse 
the alligators are hypothetical, they 
were never pets of our Saint Anthony. The gootl saint in the first place made 
his river too crooked for their comfort and in the second they concluded that he 
and his river were entirely too fresh for them, so they returned to the muddy 
bayous of Eastern Texas. But this is not to be a history of angels or alligators, 
but a word or two about a subject we are just a little chary of handling without 
gloves ; this accounts for our quoting poetry and dragging angels in by the nim- 
bus and wandering off to such irrelevant subjects as alligators. 






THK SAN ANTONIO RIVKR. ol 

" We would a rouiul unvarnished tale deliver " but it is just this waj' with 
us — we don't know exactly whether to feel glad that the Head of the River is not a 
beer garden — or to be sad that a city could sell so t^rand a birthright, not only to 
sell it but to lie so blind and remorseless that it refused to buy it back when it 
had a good chance. And as 

" To mourn a mischief that is past and gone 
Is the next way to draw new miscliicf on " 

we won't be sad about it. There is such a variety of ways of looking at this 
subject that we will just state some incidents and particulars that we know about, 
nor rashly rush into any unseemly display of high spirits. The worst that can 
be said about our splendid system of water supply is, that " it gomes a leedle 
high." The City of San Antonio is a credit to its Water Works. 

It is said that the first permanent settlement on the San Antonio river was 
near its head in the year 1602. Nearly two hundred years ago. For years after 
this the river source to mouth belonged to the Crown of Spain.* The first char- 
ter granted to San Antonio was given by the King of Spain in the year IToo or 
'o4. It only has to l)e remembered that the Recapitulation of the Indies con- 
tained strict laws and rules concerning public water rights, to be certain that the 
wondertul resources of our river in relation to public comfort and welfare were 
duly remembered. True, to the Mi.ssions were granted the prior priviliges, but 
then the Missions were one of the many starting points of our City's history. 
Forty years afterwards neither these privileges nor those alleged to have been 
conferred upon the Canary Islanders were held to interfere with the rights of any 
other citizens or settlers in and about San Fernando. And it came to pass in 
later days when Texas had changed hands the new City Government found it 
necessary to establish the boundaries of San Antonio. This was finally done in 
the courts, all about which doings can be found in Texas Reports, Vol. 7, page 
288 et seq. And Giraud made the " Original City Survey." The lots contain- 
ing the Head Springs of the river, or the Worth Springs as they were called 
about that time — because General Worth had camped there with his Militar)- 
force — were accounted, with nnich other land, as belonging to the City's public 
domain. Now, the finances of the City ni the years preceeding IS.'iO were not in 
the most flourishing condition. The Council hardly knew to what quarter thej- 
should turn for funds to build the long talked of Court Hou.se, Jail and School 
House. The Council felt themselves to be " land poor." In section eight of the 
City Charter of December 14th, 1837, it was permitted that certain parcels of 
Public Land might be .sold. The proceeds of any such sale to be appropriated 
to the erection of the buildings mentioned and the endowment of a Public 
School. The land was not ordered to be sold until August 2 Itli, 184H. It was 
decided on October 2'.)th, 184!), to erect such buildings and in the following year, 
September (ith, they were begun on the northwest corner of the Military plaza. 
This, the old "Bat Cave,'' is to be removed soon or as .soon as the New City Hall 
is completed. And this old ' Bat Cave ' furnished the excuse and grounds upon 
which were sold the City's lands. Shortly after this there was ap])ointed by the 
City "■ a committee to regulate the sale of the City Lands " and on November 4lh, 

« 01»scrve Willi regard to this in the article on " The Upper I^abor tiitch." 



52 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

1852 when the foil}' was ripe another committee which had been similarly ap- 
pointed "to decide the manner of selling the City property" reported to the 
Council that they had chosen Martin H. Campbell licensed auctioneer to sell the 
City lands bj- public outcry. To Giraud's everlasting credit be it said, that he saw 
the mistake that was about to be made and the wrong that would 
eventually revert upon the City, and to a meeting of the Council on 
November Sth, 1852, he presented a report* which was adopted strongly 
advising the reservation of certain lots at the Head of the River to the 
use of the City. He thought it would be a good place for the U. S. Arsenal and 
other public works. Whilst he was on the subject he wished also to recommend 
that a Square be kept at the San Pedro Springs for " a male college." Also that 
certain hard stone quarries on the City properties be not sold, and the wise Engi- 
neer continues to beg the Honorable Body to reserve and make a road upon the 
east bank of the river, twenty varas wide, also a similar road on the east side of 
the Alamo Madre ditch, " as near the river and ditch as they may be placed con- 
sistently with public interests." But alas ! on that very day, November Sth, 
1852. Lot 31, Range 1, District No. 2, containing 11 /^^ acres had been sold 
by the auctioneer upon the usual terms, 20 per cent, cash down, the rest in fifty 
years bearing interest at 8 per cent, per annum, for the sum of $820. Also 
lot 30, same Range and District containing 12, ^s,,, same terms, for the sum of 
$655, — both to Alderman J. R. Sweet. Lot 31 is the land upon which was 
erected the old Sweet Homestead, and the lot upon which the fine residence of 
Mr. Brackenridge now stands adjoining it. These lots were the nucleus of that 
most desirable property that is generally known as the "old Sweet place," with- 
out doubt one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, places in Texas, its 
woodland grace and parklike beauty so heightened by the perpetual mystery of 
its profound and noble springs. This is the Head of the River. There are other 
fine properties in this neighborhood with exceptional water advantages and privi- 
leges, but this property was really the key to the situation, the Ojo de Agua, the 
birthright of the city. The "Sweet place" included besides the two already men- 
tioned, five other lots, originalh' sold at the same time by the City to various pur 
chasers, but all finally acquired by Mr. Sweet by the summer of 1859, and by 
him sold on August 29th 1859, to Mr. G. W. Barnes, ofSavanah, Ga. These 
other lots were Nos. 30 and 31, Range 1, District 3; something over twenty acres 
apiece sold by the City to Francois Marchant, Marchant and City to Sweet 
through the sheriff. Eots Nos. 28 and 29, Range 1, District 2, sold by the City to 
T. J. Devine, Nov. 8th, 1852, by Devine to O'Hara, by O'Hara to Sw^eet. Lot 
32, Range 1, District No. 2, sold by the City to Geo. M. Martin, by Martin to 
Sweet in 1859. These seven original City lots formed the "Sweet property" and 
this, G. W. Barnes owned for just ten years when he sold it to Mrs. Isabella H. 
Brackenridge, September 15th 18G9. It is now owned by Mr. Geo. W. Bracken- 
ridge, the well known banker and president of our Water Works, who has by 
many improvements, additions and wise investment, made it what it is to-day — ■ 
an invaluable possession. If the story of our City's negligence and folly had 

* It would be interesting to hear what good tlie adoption of this Report ever did for the City of San 
Antouio. and further to learn why the members of the Honorable Body themselves paid so little heed oi respect 
to its purport. And was it not this same question which so agitated the honest soul of our good Aldermau 
Mackey, some two years ago. ? 



THK vSAN ANTONIO RIVER. 53 

ended here in the sale of her finest heritage, it would hardly he worth while to 
waste further space. But there is a .sequel, a le.sson it is well for the rising gen- 
eration of electors and embrvo aldermen to take to heart. 



It is highly probable that Mr. Brackenridge, with his keen instinct for real 
values, did not underate the prize. It is moreover not wholly surmise upon which 
it might be averred that he saw that the City ought to be the owner of this mag- 
nificent property. He sees it to-day, but now as before he does not underate his 
possession, as far as their value to the City is concerned. The Head of the River 
property and the Water Works are too closely linked together by mutual interesst, 
to allow a consideration of them apart. That Mr. Brackenridge was willing to 
part with the Head of the River at all, is an indication of some disinterestedness, 
but what speaks more loudly- for this, is, that he was willing to part with it at not 
an immoderate price. His terms are sufficient proof of this to-day. The 
area of the Sweet tract was altogether 108 acres more or less. This with im- 
provements and some important additions, Mr. Brackenridge on Januarj- l(Jth 
1872, offered to sell to the City for the sum of $.50, 000. He offered it upon easier 
terms than those upon which the City had sold its lands twenty years before, ex- 
cept that he was the better judge of values. He did not even ask for the 20 per 
cent., cash down, it appears. He would, he said, rent the place for $4,000 per 
annum, the exact amount of interest he asked, viz 8 per cent., the money in fifty 
years. It seems almost incredable, yet if the very full reports and large corres 
pondence may be relied upon, the.se are true particulars. His offer was read and 
accepted on Januarj' 22d by some members of the council and Mayor Thielepape, 
yet there must have been a division of opinion among the members. The matter 
at once became a subject of consuming interest in the town. The newspapers 
were full of it. People for the time talked of nothing else. A most prophetic 
letter, viewed in the light of subsequent developments, appeared in the San An- 
tonio Herald over the signature of "Citizen" on Feliruary 2nd 1S72. It strongly 
urged that the purchase be consummated and pointed out that the price and term? 
were reasonable. The mi.sguided faction won the day. Governor Davis on 
March 12th put a check upon the proceedings. The Secretary of State with many 
others unfortunately, threw what influence they possessed, unwittingly, against the 
be.st interests of the community. On March 27th Governor Davis appointed Mr. 
Newton in the place of Thielepape removed, and effectually threw the business 
into abeyance. Thielepape, as long as he had the power, without doubt had done 
all he could to clinch the bargain. He said he saw that the purcha.se would 
prove to be a bargain for the City. It must be acknowledged that the odds are 
that he did, and that he was much more of a prophet than the majority of his 
fellow citizens. Another clear case of the minority being in the right. On April 
3rd a special conuuittee of four — Their names? — It matters not — was appointed by 
the council "to test the finality of lix-Mayor Thielepape's contract with Mr. 
Brackenridge. This committee on May (ith, causes the alleged purchase to be 
revoked and rescinded. Of course this proceeding does not satisfy Mr. Bracken- 
ridge so on August ord, he tenders the rent for the property he has been occupy- 
ing This is refused by Mayor Newton. Not even content with this and fear- 
ing a cloud on his title, Mr. Brackenridge enters suit to try and compel the City 



54 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

to its obligations. This suit 'was however very amicably settled in November 
1874. The alleged contract being declared null and void. 

This is the true story of how and why the City of San Antonio to-day does 
not own the property commonly called "The Head of the River." And where, O 
where are your twenty vara road.s — good honest hearted Giraud?! 

It has already been said what a lovely river the San Antonio is, what a source 
of blessing it is, and how it meanders and winds up and down. " in and out and 
around about" the City, that this is mentioned again must be excused for we have 
acquired the San Antonian love for this dear stream, and we leave the sentiment 
with regret to talk of iron pipes, contracts, engineers and incorporaters, and 
suchlike soulless articles and beings. 



The Water Works. 

That our best water brought by couduits liither. 

— Coriolanus, Act ii, Scene iii. 

The first "Water Works" of San Antonio were ofcour.se the early irrigation 
ditches, supplemented by shallow wells. The abundance of water, apparently 
pure, but really impure by reason of generations of drainage over and through 
accumulations of filth, was a stumbling block to the minds of the less 
enlightened citizens. The constant preaching however of those who knew to 
those who wished to know, at last made a system of Water Works possible in the 
community. Very gradually the conversion went on, until to-day every citizen 
of us is alive to the importance of the handy profusion of sweet pure water, and 
keenly sensible of the tremendous growth year by year in monetary value of 
"The Water Works" property. The water question was in constant agitation 
from the date of the last visitation of cholera in ISfiG. Many suggestions and 
offers were made and discussed, but the first really definite proposition was made 
in May 1873, by Mr. Geo. M. Maverick, but it fell through. In April 1875 there 
was a meeting to consider an offer made by "The National Waterworks Company" 
of New York. The offer was refused. The matter did not abate in interest, how- 
ever, for on May 3d, 1875, a meeting was called, and held on the 6th at the 
Menger Hotel, at which much was said in favor of a system of Water Works for 
the City. It was hard Missionary work. September 3d a company was sug- 
gested, in spite of apathy and indifference prevailing, of which Mr. H. B. Adams 
was to be President and F. Giraud Secretary. The time, however, was not quite 
ripe, and this company was never probably fully organized. 

On April 3d, 1877, the City of San Antonio gave the original contract of the 
San Antonio Water Works Company to J. B. L,acoste and associates, in which 
the latter were to supply the City of San Antonio with water, using the Head of 
the San Antonio River as a .source of supply. The work was to be begun " six 
months from the date of the arrival of the Railroad," and to be finished within 



Till'; \vati:r works. 55 

fifteen months from and after April ;')(1, 1S77. This arrangement as to time was 
literally carried out. The storage reservoir was to be completed within two years 
from April .'id, ISTT. The City of San Antonio agreed to lease to J. B. Lacoste 
and associates for a reservoir, six acres of ground on the upper or western part of 
Rock Quarry Road, and also the property at the head of the Upper Labor Ditch, 
" heretofore set aside by the City for the purposes of Water Works," so long as 
this contract continues in force. Permission for the Company to use rock from 
the City quarries was al.so given. 

The contract " shall subsist " for a period of twenty-five years from the com- 
pletion of said works, at the end of which time the City shall have the right to 
buy the works at an appraised value, but if the City does not buy back at the end 
of twenty-five years, the contract shall run until the works are purchased, and 
tlie right to purchase the same shall inure to the City every five years thereafter, 
the City to give twelve months' notice of its intention to buy. 

The amended contract or ordinance was made on January 2'Jth, 18S1, when 
Mr. J. H. French was mayor, and when Mr. Brackenridge had acquired the con- 
trol of the Water Works Company, he being President of the Company at that 
date. The features of the amendment were the relinquishment by the City of the 
rental of $500 per annum, that the Company was to pay taxes on an assessment 
up to the amount of $2")0,0flO, and that at the expiration of the contract if the 
City should "avail itself of the right to purchase, and the parties cannot agree as 
to price, the matter is to be decided by arbitration." 

To return to the work done by J. B. lyacoste and associates under the original 
contract. Credit must be given to the first engineer of the works, Mr. W. R. 
Freeman, for the simple and effective scheme to utilize the water power of the 
River to pump the water of the Head to a still higher level, to obtain sufficient 
pressure. The reservoir, was not constructed upon the site originally selected, 
but on the summit of a hill higher in the eastern vicinity of the Head of the 
River. The raceway, however, was constructed as designed without interfering 
to any appreciable degree with the supply of water to the irrigation ditches. 
And the turbines did good service for many jj'ears. The works were duly 
finished under the original contract, and upon completion, they were tested and 
re-tested, and on July 5th, IST.S, Mr. J. P. Newcomb, Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Water Works, etc., reported to the Council that the Water Works had 
been duly finished on July 3d, 1S78, and recommended that the following reso- 
lution be adopted : " Resolved, That the City of San Antonio hereby formally 
accept the Water Works constructed by J. B. Lacoste and associates under the 
contract made with the Citj' under Section 560 of Digest of Revised Ordinances. 
This acceptance to date from od day of July, 1878." This report and the 
accoinpanj'ing resolution was unanimously adopted July 5th, 1878. 

There was for some time l)ul poor patronage for the Water Works. People 
had to be educated to the importance of their new acquisition. Prejudice had to 
be overcome. Mr. Lacoste disposed of his interest, and the Works took a new lease 
of life under the Brackenridge rule. With a .serene faith in the future of the 
City, Mr. Brackenridge has yearly put and advised his Company to put thousands 



•V) SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

and thousands of dollars tinderground, until to-day the City has a vast network 
of iron pipes. 

For several years there have been factions, each having a different opinion 
as to the proper mode of settling this question as to the ownership of the Works. 
For a long time previous to 1885 attacks on the validity of the contract were 
constant from certain quarters. This, however, was temporarily set at rest by an 
exhaustive opinion by Mr. S. G. Newton, who was City Attorney in that year. 
He decided : "I am of the opinion that the City Administration was authorized 
under its Charter to make the contract, and that the contract contains no pro- 
visions that invalidate it." Others again now advocate that the City .-diould con- 
demn the property. This policy could not be defended upon any just ground, 
for it behooves a City Council or Corporation to be as just and honest as the indi- 
vidual. The purchase of the Water Works is, as we go to press, the burning 
question of the hour. An offer from the San Antonio Water Works to sell the 
Works for §2,000,000 is before the people. Mayor Callaghan with characteristic 
foresight is stronglj' in favor of the purchase. Being a man of progress and ha\-- 
ing in view first and foremost the best interests of the Cit}', he tirges upon the 
citizens the necessity of a sj-stem of sewers. Such a work he argues caiuiot be 
economicallj' carried out unless the control of water is in the hands of the own- 
ers of the system of sewers. Water is indispensable to the best systems. 
"Recognizing," he says, "the growing needs of the citizens for proper sewage 
works," he held, "that a water supply was of utmost necessity and consideration, 
and to this end he would urge the purchase of the Water Works plant." The 
citizens trust him. Nothing he has done has forfeited this confidence. He has 
done much to win it. Yet no one knows better than he that from some quarters 
he will get hard knocks for his pains. No one cares less for hard knocks when he 
thinks himself to be in the right. It is this independent and progressive spirit 
that has earned for him a long lease of the Mayor's seat. A lease that is not 
likely soon to expire unless he seeks or has thrust upon him the honor of repre- 
senting this district in the National Congre.ss. His influence is almost an 
assurance that the purchase will be favorably voted upon by the citizens on Sep- 
tember .'JOth. It has been shown how on a former occasion, the citizens by 
opposing a farseeing Maj'or (Thielepape in l'S72), upon a similar question, in a 
great measure sowed the seeds of the harvest that to-da}- has to be gathered. It 
is wisest to make the best of the crop as it .stands. 

It is not within the scope of this .sketch to discuss the financial aspect of the 
question. But it occurs that the Water Works enjoys a large income (which has 
hitherto been spent in developing), therefore the purchase could not actually be a 
burden on the City., although theorists would try so to prove. Not to mention 
the value of Real Estate which the offer includes. Many of the City's influential 
men favor the project. The question is to be decided by a vote of the tax-paj^- 
ers, on September 30th, 1890. Mr. Brackenridge in a recent interview, expres.sed 
himself decidedly as follows : 

"Now, the stockholders, after sowing for thirteen years, with the hope of 
ultimately harvesting, think it a little hard that their large expenditure of 
patience and money should be met by public clamor, as though they had perpe- 



THIv SAN ANTONIO RIVER. 57 

trated some great wrong upon the coniiiuiiiity, instead of having addud a valuable 
and necessarj' property to the City. Yet they believe strongly in the justice 
of mankind and feel confident that the stockholders of the Water Works will be 
permitted to reap the benefits which they feel are due them. Should it bj con- 
sidered necessary for the public good to deprive them of their property, and 
rights under their franchise, they think they will be honestly and fairly dealt 
with." 

" The Water Works were constructed in 1.S77, at a time when the City was 
unwilling or unable to do anything, and the citizens would have nothing to do 
with the scheme, giving it neither countenance nor credit, believing that it would 
be a very great advantage to the city, and of little benefit to the stockholders. 
These were, I believe, the views entertained bj' very nearly all the citizens, 
including myself. At present the Company is completing what the stockholders 
hoped would be the last large addition in the plant, necessary to l)e made during 
the contiiuiance of its contract with the city. I can say truly, that, so far, they 
have received less interest on their investment than any citizen in San Antonio 
would be willing to accept, even upon the most undoubted and infallible invest- 
ment. There has been paid them less than 2 per cent, per annum upon the amount 
invested to the present time. For the first seven years the officers contented 
themselves to work without salaries. I traveled over the country at my own 
expense to make contracts for pipe and material." 

The.se articles on the Head of the River and the Water Works are inserted in 
this work in the belief that, whether the vote goes for or against the purcha.se, the 
historical matter they contain will be of more than mere passing interest. 




San Antonio as a Health Resort. 

"If a iiiau wants to die there lie must go somewhere else." 

— Gi;o. WiLKiNS Kendall, 1843. 

To those that are aflected with throat and Uiiil!; troul)les, San Antonio and 
its vicinity nndoubtedly stand pre-eminent in interest at the head of the list of 
the health resorts of this continent; its pnre and dry air, and the facilities its 
neighborhood affords for obtaining varied temperatures, in the high lands North, 
or the low lands South to suit the subject or case, are advantages which .speak 
for themselves. 

The editor of this Guide was anxious to obtain what he felt to be a disinter- 
ested estimate of these advantages, and found it when least expecting it; he gives 
an old opinion, but he feels it to be the better for the thirty years during which 
it has been put to the proof. It stands as just to-day as when it was written, 
and has everything to recommend it to health-seekers. It is to be regretted that 
it does not touch upon one important item, the northers. Our northers have 
been much noised about, and the rapid changes that these boisterous visitors 
cause during our short winter, have been much objected to. The writer's eight 
years of experience has taught him that their bark is far worse than their bite; 
that in the severest stress it is never quite so cold as it seems; the wind is cer- 
tainly trying as long as it lasts, but out of the wind, and you are out of the 
Norther. They are ea.sily avoided if an invalid desires to do so, all one has to 
do is to keep indoors, they are invariably of short duration, lasting three or four 
days at most at a time: they come very suddenh', it is true, but they assudddenly 
leave, and it should be remembered by visitors that they alwaj's come from a 
northerly direction, necessarily therefore, from a much colder climate than our 
own vSunny .South. The longer one lives in Texas the better he likes the North- 
ers: they are to a Texan an impersonation almost of everything that is bracing 
and invigorating, and they are oftener welcomed with a leap and a whistle than 
met with complainings. 

The extracts that follow further on, are from a letter written many years 
ago by an invalid who had sought San Antonio as a health resort, and who appar- 
ently found relief. The letter was published as far back as 1S5.S in tlie New 
Orleans Crescent. It furni.shes, an unbiased and independent opinion by one 
who had had much experience, of the restorative qualities of the climate of San 
Antonio, all the more unbiased and telling if it is considered that the climate 
was at that time passing through its probationary period, and that to-day, more 
than thirty years after, San Antonio stands unchallenged as a resort, unequalled 
for restorative ({ualities for lung and throat troubles. The letter is given almost 
as it stands in the old file, only such paragraphs are eliminated as .speak dispar- 
agingly of certain malarial districts of vSoutheast Texas, of the stages, "which are 



SAN ANTONIO Av^ A HIvAI/fH REvSORT. oO 

rnmiiug" dail\- and weekly" [and which have long ago given place to the iron 
horse,] and of the "white lime dust that is confined entirely to the business ])or- 
tion of San Antonio, and which does not affect the outskirts, which present within 
an area of six miles the best situation which I have seen for the enjoyment ol 
l)ure air, and cool and refreshing breezes." This "white lime dust" has never 
existed to the younger generation in ,San Antonio, and is an utter impossibility 
in the business portions of a now important city, which are paved, some, with mes- 
quite blocks, some, macadamized, and all kept thoroughly well sprinkled. 

The writer is spoken of as being "a citizen of Mol)ilc, and has no other 
interest in the subject matter than to dissemhiate truth for the general benefit." 

"Jui.v 2.",th, 1S.-),S. 
liuiTORS OF TlIK CkHSCKNT: 

The superiority of the climate of Western Texas over that of other sections, 
which have heretofore been resorted to for the cure of pulmonary diseases is 
certainly very great. To me it is the most important feature which Texas pre- 
.sents. I have experienced to a limited extent its curative influence; and, from 
what I have seen, felt, and heard of it, I am indviced to believe that if fully 
understood and appreciated by the country at large. Western Texas would speed- 
ily become the most favored resort on the Continent for persons afflicted with 
diseases of the throat and lungs. 

As far back as I can remember the Medical Facult}' of the United States 
have been in the habit of recommending patients afflicted with pulmonary disease 
to cross the ocean, or take a trip on the .sea — to visit Cuba, or take up their re.si- 
dence in Florida, or some other Southern state. The di.scovery of Gold in 
California led to the discovery of the beneficial effects of the rarified atmo.sphere 
of the plains on pulmonar},' disea.ses. Manj- ca.ses of laryngitis, bronchitis and of 
confirmed consumption were said to have been entirelj' cured b}- crossing the 
Continent to California. The facts sustained by reports received since from the 
interior of Asia, have roused the Medical Faculty, and the result is that the mo.st 
intelligent of them now believe that .sea breezes and humid atmosphere are verj' 
injurious in cases of pulmonary disease, and that the best localities for them are 
these where rarified atmos])here prevails. 

Such localities are not to be found near the Atlantic or Gulf coasts. The 
atmo.sphere there is neces.sarily humid and of course too heavy for tlie weak lungs 
of a consum])tive to respire with ease. It is also impregnated witli salt which is 
extremely irritating to the throat and lungs. It is said that in the interior of 
Cuba and of Florida, this irritating atmo.sphere does not exist. This niav l)e cor- 
rect, but in its .stead is a malarious atmosphere which keeps the consumi)tivc in 
continual fever and thus accelerates his di.sease. Humidity, too, in both Cu])a 
and I'lorida, cannot t)e otherwise than great. The water which surrounds thcni 
and is held in their soils and on their surfaces is sufficient to prove this. In fact, 
there is no place in the Gulf or Carribbean sea, nor within one thousand miles 
of our Atlantic coast, that pre.sents .so favorable a climate for those who are 
afflicted with pulmonary disease as Western Texas. I know this to be true. I 
speak from experience. 



60 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

For three years before my arrival in Western Texas, I was afflicted with 
laryngitis. During that period I tried various localities on the Atlantic and Gulf 
coasts, and in the interior of Florida and other states, and I found that the farther 
I removed from the sea, and from lakes, ponds, swamps, and rich cultivated 
.soils, the better I felt. When e.xposed to winds which blew over swamps, river 
bottoms, or .still bodies of water, I invariably experienced a choking sensation. 
At all times and in all places I suffered in proportion to the humidity of the sur- 
rounding atmo.sphere. So .sensitive was mj' throat to dampness that I could tell 
the approach of rain, even before there was any apparent indication of it in the 
heavens. When the atmosphere was dense and heavy with moisture, my throat 
was clogged with mucus: Dut when it was dry, the mucus did not cling with 
such tenacity to the membrane, and there was less of it. This, together with my 
experience in medical remedies, induced me to believe that nothing but a dry, 
rarified atmo.sphere would restore the mucous membrane of the larynx to healthy 
action. Unfortunately for me, I was not governed by that discovery until the 
disease had reached my lungs. After being confined to my bed three months, on 
the coa.st, I set out for San Antonio. On my arrival there I was verj^ weak and 
feeble, suffered much from pain in my lungs, and was not able to do anything 
which required any physical strength. 

I am now, after a lap.se of two months, able to walk two miles without being 
fatigued, and can write about three hours each day. This improvement I attribute 
to the purer, dr}-, light atmo.sphere which prevails here the greater part of the 
time. My improvement, however, has not been so rapid as that of many others 
of whom I have heard. This may be in consequence of difference in the natural 
strength of constitution. ********** 

That the atmo.sphere is usually dry and light there can be no doubt. The 
intense, piercing heat of the sun, the quick changes of rain clouds from black to 
white, and their sudden expansion as they pass over the land towards the West, 
together with many other things, such as the impossibility of producing mildew, 
etc., prove it. ******** 

If the atmo.sphere here .should not prove to be dry enough for particular 
cases, excellent facilities are afforded for removal we.stwardl}- where the rarefac- 
tion increases in proportation to the di.stance traveled towards the "Colorado 
Desert," which affords the lightest and driest atmosphere on the Continent. If 
the temperature .should be too high for other cases a lower temperature can be 
found by proceeding northwardly to the mountainous country. At a distance of 
sevent}- miles is Frederick.sburg, which, according to its elevation above and dis- 
tance from San Antonio, is, in temperature, equal to seven and two-thirds degrees 
further north. And there are many other places of much greater altitude within 
one hundred and fifty miles of San Antonio. ***** 

It is not change of temperature which the consumptive needs, but a light, 
dry atmosphere, free from irritating and feveri.sh influences." * * * 

Remarking upon this letter, Dr. Cupples said: "That is, I think, a pretty 
fair estimate of the case, for a layman. He did not know enough about the sub- 
ject to speak quite correctly, for instance, salt is not irritating to the throat and 
lungs in such a form, that is to say, naturally in the air, and it corrects the 



vSOMI<: OK TIIK RIvS()URCl';S OF WI'STI'RX TEXAS. 



c.l 



luuiiidity, which is an advantage. I believe the summer heat is sdinewhal inju- 
rious, not so much on account of its intensity, l)ut the duration of it — it becomes 
wearisome to an invalid. The northers need not be considered — they are not 
really .so cold as they seem, and as you say, they are invigorating and bracing, 
especially to those acclimated. San Antonio is a desirable winter resort for 
invalids. The winter climate is good. As to northers, if anyone is afraid of 
them — there being always a warning before a norther — it is easy to avoid them 
by staying indoors. The advantages of our climate are, freedom from colds, and 
the fact that all of our houses are freely and naturally ventilated, the average 
weather permitting all of our windows and doors to be left constantly open, 
insuring pure air." 




Some of the Resources of Western Texas. 



In presenting any remarks on the .subject of this title, in a work of the 
present character, it is important to avoid injudicious exploiting and rash .state- 
ments. 

The following observations aim simply to describe the face of the country as 
it actually is, and not to draw immature bills on the future or to anticipate, by 
one jot, the pro.sperity it is destined to enjoy. Many .statistics have been pur- 
po.sely avoided, and the reader is presented with an idea of the country, which is 
the fruit of ten years' jourueyings throughout its length and breadth. 

This article must be confined to sofiic of the Resources of Western Texas. The 
title is both vast and vague. P'or the Resources are but partially known and 
still less develoi^ed, whilst the region itself is a somewhat indeterminate 
Geographical expression. 



62 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

As a fair generalization we will discuss the country lying west of the Colo- 
rado. By a glance at the map, this will be seen to be a great plain, sloping from 
the northwest to the .southea.st, and drained by the following principal rivers, 
flowing — with the exception of the tributaries of the Rio Grande — in the direc- 
tion indicated. They are the Colorado, Concho, San Saba, Llano and Per- 
denalis, Guadalupe and San Marcos, the San Antonio and Medina, the Frio, 
Sabinal, Nueces, L,os Moras, San Felipe, Devil's River, the Pecos and Rio 
Grande. 

Nearly all these streams head in bold springs of the clearest water, whose 
banks are of great natural beaut)* and whose volume never varies. 

In the lower counties, the Frio, Sabinal and Nueces sometimes disappear 
from the surface in extremely dry weather. They, however, continue to flow 
underground and alwaj-s maintain abundant pools for stock and other purjjoses. 
These valleys are agricultural — more especially the eastern ones — and with 
occasional irrigation, such as is practiced at San Antonio and some points on the 
Rio Grande, might become the granary of the continent. 

The intervening prairies are given up mostlj- to stock-raising, and are the 
finest breeding grounds of the world. 

All of this immen.se territory has more or less intimate relations with the 
City of San Antonio de Bexar, which has ever been the nursing mother of its 
phenomenal growth. 

So true a parent has San Antonio been to this region, that, even within the 
past ten years, happenings and belongings anywhere within its borders have 
always had a local savor in the streets of " vSantone." Was it a cattle trade or a 
rovnid-up ? a death or a wedding ? all the way from here to El Paso or eke the 
coast or the Lower Rio Grande, the parties and incidents were discussed with 
qtute a personal interest and knowledge. And so it is to some extent to-day. 

The evolution of this broad land has been somewhat after this manner : 
Twenty years ago the country was a rolling prairie, with occasional islands of 
timber giving in places a park-like appearance to the landscape, and under these 
clumps of Live Oak, Hackberry or Mesquite, the stock of man\' owners gathered 
for shade and rumination. The valle3^s and canons which we have already 
described were filled with a thicker growth of Pecan, Elm, Cypress and Cedar, 
the trees festooned with wild grapes and other vines. There are, too, great belts 
of Post Oak. 

The roads were prairie trails of immense width, cros.sing the streams at fords 
which, .sometimes, were not fordable. These roads led by stage stands, frontier 
posts and villages and to the small ports on the coast. There were daily .stages 
North, South, East and West, and endless wagon trains, drawn by many oxen 
and mules and driven by picturesque Mexicans armed to the teeth, with a view 
to Indians. 

The outgoings and incomings of these waj'fayers made neighbors of the 
whole province of their travels, even far into Mexico, whose trade with Texas 
has always been extensive. 



SOME OI* TIIIv RI'ISOURCES OK WIvSTlvRN TEXAvS. 03 

After a while came the stoppaj;^e of the prairie fires, from the increased value 
of the nutritious mesquite grass, and the consequent rapid growth of the nies<iuite 
underbrush, which now nearly covers the middle portion of the district, affording 
more protection for stock and an edible bean for both cattle and horses. The 
various kinds of cacti also becauK' much more luxuriant. 

In the seventies, fencing began in the South, l)utthis revolution of the stock 
interests from the primitive "round-up" only fairly .set in during the eighties, 
and at the present time it is almost complete in the more desirable pasture lands. 

With the barbed-wire fence came the railway and the hoe, the agents of a 
still newer revolution now going rapidly forward. 

Fonnerly the Colorado was thought to mark the western limit of farming in 
Texas. Undoubtedly the seasons have improved with the country, and vice 
versa, for farming is now carried on, even without irrigation, throughout the ter- 
ritory under discu.ssion, cotton, corn, wheat, oats, millet, .sorghum and sugar 
cane being raised in more or less abundance.* With irrigation the agricultural 
wealth of this country would be incalculable, and at a ver}- conser\-ative estimate 
would maintain in affluence and humble comfort 2U,()UU,000 people. The present 
population of this .section is certainly not one-twentieth of that number. 

Let us see how this future may be provided for by glancing at our present 
resources. 

The general character of the country is still pastoral and the staples are 
cattle, sheep, horses, wool and hides. On the coast are extensive oyster and 
other fi.sheries, j)articularly the delicate red fish, a dainty denizen of the lagoons. 

The increasing growth of Cotton is enormous and although not a staple of 
Western Texas proper, it is rapidly becoming .so. 

Below are some figures for 1S,S9 for the market of San Antonio only : 

Horses, 70,000 head; cattle, SI, 000 head; sheep. Kill,! 10(1 head; wool, 
7,000,000 pounds ;t hides, 2,000,000 pounds ; cotton, 12,000 bales.;!: 

With .such an al)undance of raw material at our doors, it is natural to con- 
sider the ([uestion of jiower for their manufacture. 

The City of Austin is engaged in a gigantic scheme for a dam on the Colo- 
rado, estimated to cost nearly .§1 .."lOO, ()()(). There is a fine .site at Columbus, on 
the same River. 

On the Guadalupe are innumerable opjiortunities to establish power, 
e.specially at New Braunfels and Seguin. A fine i)ower is already e.stabli.shed at 
San Marcos, and also at Marble FalLs. 

♦ To produce such crops implies .i v.Tried soil. liineslone hills, alluvial valleys, wide stretches of saudy loam 
aud " black waxy," deep river lM>ttoms aud in the Post Oaks and Black Jacks some saudy and gravelly lands, 
These are the soils of Western Texas. 

+ Wool— IST.'i. :!(X),000 pounds ; IKTIi, 400,000 pounds; ls77, it suddenly sprang to '.i.asT.'ill pounds. This in- 
crease was probably owing to the increase of flocks and to the new railroad facilities of San .\ntonio. The ship- 
ments have steadily grown year by year to the present large market of Issil. 

\ 12.000 bales local wagou receipts, including country consignments by rail would probably amount to 20.000 
bales, and the amount of cotton handled b\ San .\ntouio merchants, by order and otherwise, would not be less, 
say, than a lot.il of 120.000 bales. The Mexican cotton trade was almost the only cotton business here for the 
years previous to I^isl. in this year the Mexican market was -MIOO bales and the next season shows the first nota- 
ble increase in the Sau Antonio market, on account, probably, of new railroad facilities. 



64 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

The San Antonio has many mills on its banks, and its capacity for water- 
power is everything that could be desired. 

Coal-mines are being extensively worked at Eagle Pass and L,aredo, on the 
frontier, and in the vicinity of San Antonio. There is also a fine seam in the 
Eagle Spring Mountains, near the junction of the Southern and Texas Pacific 
Railways. 

Iron ore of great purity and inexhaustible quantity is found at Llano with a 
fine Eime-stone flux innnediately adjacent. In the same neighborhood and sur- 
rounding counties are many lieautiful marbles and granite of the hardest texture. 
Good clay of various colors is abundant and brick-making is extensively carried 
on in Laredo, Eagle Pass, San Antonio and vicinity and many other places. 

In Uvalde county are deposits of guano and kaolin ; asphaltum has been 
found in many localities, and lately while boring for artesian water in San An- 
toino and its neighborhood, bt)th natural gas and oil have been found. 

Of the precious metals, Silver is being worked in paying quantities in the 
Chinati mountains. This Range, as well as the Chisos and Diabolo abound in 
Galena ore, rich in Lead and Silver. 

There are also strong indications of Copper, Iron and Coal in this moun- 
tainous country of the extreme West, but from inaccessability and lack of trans- 
portation, the subject has not received adequate attention. A geological survey 
of the state is now being made under the direction of Prof. Dumble, of Austin, 
from which much additional light is hoped. 

Of the Fruits of Texas, the most successful are the Fig, Vine, Peach and 
Mulberry. Melons of all sorts and varieties grow to perfection, together with the 
usual vegetables — maturing early, and, in fact, with care, a garden may be main- 
tained all the year around. 

This brings us to say a few words about the climate : — There are perhaps 
twenty days in the year, on an average, that a man cannot work out of doors. 
The heat of summer is tempered by a breeze from the Gulf which fans the whole 
country bj- S o'clock in the afternoon, an hour which would otherwise be the hot- 
test part of the day. The nights are always cool, and at an elevation of 1,500 
feet a blanket is needed the summer through. The official mean temperature, 
Post of San Antonio is :— Summer, 82.43°; Winter, 51.l')7°; Rainfall '24 to Si> 
inches. 

In the Winter the northers are disagreeable while they last, as their duration 
is generally not longer than forty-eight hours, the objection is slight. 

The climate is a good one, and in conjunction with the country we have 
been briefly describing, will in a few years rear a people which will have the 
controlling voice in all our dealings with our neighbors to the South, and, grow- 
ing as it must, in culture as in material wealth, it will be a people of ideas, and 
yet not lose that resourceful Western character which disposes of obstacles by 
destroying them and dissolves difficulties in a solution of success. 

As for those who come to the land and grumble that everything is not 
achieved, let them remember, that, in that event, there would be nothing left for 
them to do. 




Ir SELLO / . v^ANOS DE 



|l.CUAKTILLO U||lf| 



1822 Y 25. 



T Ti:i:i:i:i:i :i:i:i:i: 



SCLLO CUATRO #•> 
LWClAETEIL^fe 




PARAELBIF.MIMODE 



1832 Yt833, 



Sl'AMSlI AND MEXICAN- IKXAS SKALS. 



LIST OK CHARTlvRS Ol' Till' CVV\ ()!• SAN ANTONIO. i<r> 

Moreover, the generation passing away, /las d(jne all the hard work. Piuiieer 
heroism has finished its self appointed task. The battle of barbarism and law- 
lessness has been fought. The Indian and the outlaw are almost extinct and the 
institutions of our fathers are established. 

We may enter upon our inheritance in peace, and, in its literal sense, the 
dweller in Western Te.Kas nia\- sit under his own Vine and Fig-tree, fanned by 
the cool Gulf breeze, and thankfully murmur to the Goddess of plenty. 

O DUIXE DOMUM. 




List of Charters and Amendments to the Same of the City of 

San Antonio, 

First. Charter granted by King of Spain in 17-')-'> or 17.']4. 

Second. Au act to incorporate the town of Nacogdoches and ()ther towns 
herein named, by the Republic of Texas, January •"), 1S.'>7. 

Third. Act of Incorporation, December II, ls;!7. 

Fourth. Act Supplementary, January 2G, 1839. 

Fii-Tii. Act of Incorporation, Jaiuiary 14, 1.S42. 

Sixth. Act to incorporate the City of vSan j^ntonio. January 24, 1N52. 

Seventh. An act to amend the act of January 14, 1S42, November 
26, IS.-).-). 

Kic.iith Act of Incorporation, July 17, ISoG. 

Ninth. Act of Incorporation, August I'l, 1870. 

Thntii. Amendments to Sections •'), C, 24, ;!3, 4(i, 1.51, l.'.'), 189, 280, made 
by the people at an election held December 15, 1S74. 

Eleventh. Amendments to Sections ■^, 24, 4o, 4.'), April |s, 1S7'.I, by 
Sixteenth Legislature. 

Twelfth. Amendments of March 4, 1X85. 



66 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

List of Mayors of the City of San Antonio. 

From Its Incorporation, Junk, 1837, to January, isuo. 

September 19, lS;i7, to March !), 18;><S — Mayor, John W. Smith (all the aldermen 
and city officers are Mexicans). 

March 9, 1S3S, to July 20, 183-S— Mayor, William H. Dangerfiekl. 

July liO, IS.'iS, to January S, 1.S39 — Mayor pro tem, Antonio Menchaca. 

January 8, 1839, to January 8, 1840 — Mayor, S. A. Maverick. 

January 8, 1840. to January 9, 1,S41 — Mayor, John W. Smith. 

January 9, 1841, to April IS, 1S4-2 — Mayor, Juan N. Seguin (died September, 
1890, at New Laredo. From August 17, 1S41, to September 7, 1.S41, Francis 
Guilbeau, Mayor pro tem. ). 

April IS, 1842, to March 30, 1844— Mayor, John W. Smith. 

March 30, 1844, to February 18, 1845— Mayor, Edward Dwyer. 

February 18, 1845, to January 1, 1846 — Mayor, Edward Dwyer. 

January 1, 1S4G, to January 1, 1S47 — Maj-or, Bryan Callaghan (C. F. King, pro 

tem). 

January 1, 1847, to January 1, 1848 — Mayor, Charles F. King, (and from Jan- 
uary 27, 1847, to January 1, 1848, S. S. Smith, pro tem). 

January 1, 184S to January 1, 1849 — Mayor, Chas. F. King, (and from April 3, 
1S4S to January 1, 1849, S. S. Smith, pro tem.) 

January 1, 1849, to January 1, 1S50 — Mayor, J. M. Devine. 

January 1, 1S.50, to January 1, 1851 — Mayor, J. M. Devine. 

January 1, 1851 to January 1, 1852 — Mayor, J. S. McDonald. 

January 1, ls52, to January 1, 1853 — Mayor, C. F. King. 

January 1, 1S53, tojanuary 1, 1S54 — Mayor, J. M. Devine. 

January 1. 1S54, tojanuary 1, 1S55 — Mayor, John M. Carolan. 

Janu.iry 1, 1S55, tojanuary 1, 185(i— Mayor, James R. Sweet. 

January 1, 1S5(;, to the first Monday of January, 1S57- Ma^-or, J. M. Devine. 

January 1, 1S57, to June 30, 1857— Mayor, J. M. Devine. 

June 5, 1S57, to June 30, 1857 — Mayor pro tem, J. H. Beck. 

July 1, 1S57, tojanuary 1, 1858 — Mayor, A. A. Lockwood. 

January 1, 1S5S, tojanuary 1, 1859 — Mayor, A. A. Lockwood. 

January 1, 1S.59, tojanuary 1, 1860 — Mayor, James R. Sweet. 

January 1, iscd, tojanuary 1, ISIil — Mayor, James R. Sweet. 

January 1. ISCI, tojanuary 1, 1S(;2 — Mayor, James R. Sweet. 

January 1, 18G2, to May 26, 1S62 — Mayor, James R. Sweet. 



LIST ()!• MAYORS. 67 

May 'id, ]S(i-2, to January I, I Si;;',— Mayor, S. A. Maverick. 

January 1, ISi;.!, to January I, 1^(11 — Mayor, P. L. Buquor. 

January 1. lS(il, to January 1, Im;.") — Mayor, P. L. Huquor. 

Jaiuiary 1, 1S(;."), to October 1, INd.'j — Mayor, J. H. Lyons, to August 1">, INC..') ; 
Mayor pro teni, from Aui;ust 1') to October il, ISi;.'), C. F. Fisher. 

.VI'l'OIN'TKKS OF C.OVHRNOR HAMILTON, PKOVISION.VL GOVKRNOR OF TK.XAS. 

From October, II, l.S(>.'), to August 23, 1866 — Mayor, I). Cleveland. 

Old officers reinstated by act of Legislature, from August 24, ISIU], to December 
Ml, ISC.d— Mayor, J. H. Lyons. 

CHARTER ICLKCTION. 

January 1, ISliT, to November S, 1,S()7 — Mayor, J. H. Lyons. 

Military appointees, by Colonel J. J. Reynolds, U. S. Army, Novembers, 1S(;7, 
to March 2S, 1870— Mayor, W. C. A. Thielepape. 

Al'I'OI.XTMENTS OF K. J. DAVIS, GOVERNOR, UNDER E.N'.VBLING ACT, FROM 
M.\RCH 2S, 1S7(), TO NOVEMBER 12, 1872. 

Mayor W. C. A. Thielepape— From March 28, 1870, to March 12, 1872. 
Mayor S. G. Newton — From March 1.'., 1S72, to November 12, 1S72. 

CHARTER ELECTION. 

November L>, 1S72, to January V.'>, 1S73 — Mayor, F. Giraud. 
January 1 1, 1S7.">, to Jainiar\- I'.l, lS7o — Mayor, F. Giraud. 
January I'.l, 1S7."), to January 11), 1S77 — Mayor, James H. French. 
January III, 1S77, to January 2"'), 1S79 — Mayor, James H. French. 
January 2"), 1879, to Januarys 2-j, ISSl — Mayor, James H. French. 
January 25, 1881, to January 25, 1883 — Mayor, James H. French. 
January 25, 1883, to February 1, 1885 — Mayor, James H. French. 
February 1, iss."), to February I, 1887 — Mayor, Bryan Callaghan. 
February 1, 1887, to February 11, 18S9 — Mayor, Bryan Callaghan. 
February 11, 1889, to Mayor, Bryan Callaghan. 



San Antonio de Bexar. 



By Sidney I,anier. 

fF peculiarities were quills, San Antonio de Bexar would be a rare porcupine. 
Over all the round of aspects in which a thoughtful mind may view a city, it 
bristles with striking idiosyncracies and bizarre contrasts. Its history, popula- 
tion, climate, location, architecture, soil, water, customs, costumes, horses, cattle, 
all attract the stranger's attention, either b}- force of intrinsic singularity or of 
odd juxtapositions. 

San Antonio de Bexar, Texas, had its birth in 171"). It was. indeed, born 
before its time, in consequence of a sudden fright into which its mother, Spain, 
was thrown by the menacing attitudes of certain Frenchmen, who, upon other 
occasions besides this one, were in those days very much what immortal Mrs. 
Gamp has declared to Mrs. Harris "these steam-ingines is in our business," a 
frequent cause of the premature development of projects. For Spain had not 
intended to allow any settlements, as yet, in that part of her province of the New 
Philippines which embraced what is now called Texas. In the then situation of 
her affairs, this policy was not without some reasons to support it. She had 
valuable possessions in New Mexico ; between these po.ssessions and the French 
settlements to the eastward, intervened an enormous breadth of country, whose 
obstacles again.st intruders, appalling enough in themselves, were yet magnified 
by the shadowy terrors that haunt an unknown land. Why not fortify her New 
Mexican silver-mines with these sextuple barriers, droughts, deserts, mountains, 
rivers, savages, and nameless fears ? Surely, if inclosure could be made impreg- 
nable, this would seem to be .so ; and accordingly the Spanish Government had 
finally determined, in l()fl4, not to revive the feeble posts and missions which had 
been established four years previously with a view to make head against the 
e.xpedition of L,a Salle, but which had been abandoned already by soldier and 
friar, in consequence of the want of food and the ferocity of the savages. 

But in ITl'i, Anthony Crozat, an enterprising French merchant, obtained 
from Ivouis XIV a conditional grant to the whole of the French province of 
Louisiana. Crozat believed that a lucrative trade might be established with the 
northeastern provinces of Me.xico. and that mines might exist in his territory. 
To test these beliefs, j^oung Huchereau St. Denis, acting under instructions from 
Cardillac, who had been appointed Governor of Louisiana by CrozUt's influence, 
started westward, left a nucleus of a settlement at Natchitoches, and proceeded 

This sketch was written by Sidney Lauier in 1S72, so that some of the references to the modern city must 
to-day he taken cum itrano sir/:s, or at least, to a certain extent, as historical. The history throughout the article 
is, as a rule, excellent and reliable. K.xchmive rights in this article have been purchased by the publishers of 
this work.— W. C, F,d. 



SIDNl'A' LANIlvR'S HISTORICAL SKIvTCH. 69 

across the country to the Rio tiraiule, where his explorations, after romantic 
advejitures too numerous to he related here, came to an inglorious suspension 
with his seizure and imjirisonnient by the .Spanish \'ice-regal authorities in 
Mexico. 

It was this expedition which produced the premature result hereinbefore 
alluded to. Spain saw that instead of surrounding New Mexico with inhospita- 
ble wastes and ferocious savages, she was in reality but leaving France free to 
occupy whatever coigns of vantage might be found in that prodigious Debatable 
Land, which was claimed by both and was held by neither. 

Perhaps this consideration was heightened by Spain's consciousness that the 
flimsiness of her title to that part of the '' New Philippines " which lay east of 
the Rio Grande, really recpiired an actual occupation in order to bolster it up. 
Pretty much all that she could prove in support of her claim was, that in 1 I'.ll 
Pope Alexander VL, acting as arl)itrator between Portugal and Spain, had 
assigned to the latter all of the American possessions that lay west of a meridian 
running three hundred and seventy miles w^est of the Azores ; that De Leon, De 
Ayllon, De Narvaez, and De Soto, in voyages made between the years l.")12 and 
1.5.')8, had sailed from Cape Florida to Cape Catorce ; and that Philip IL had 
denounced the penalty of extermination against any foreigner who should enter 
the Gulf of Mexico or any of the lands bordering thereupon. 

These were, to say the least, but indefinite muniments of title ; and to them 
France could oppose the unquestionable fact that La Salle had coasted the shore 
of Texas westward to Corpus Christi inlet, had returned along the same route, 
had explored bays and rivers and named them, and had finally built F'ort .St. 
Louis on the Lavacca river in KiS.'). Here now, in 1714, to crown all, was this 
daring young Lord Huchereau St. Denis traversing the whole land from Natchi- 
toches to the Rio Grande, and thru.sting in his audacious face like an apparition 
of energy upon the sleepy routines of post-life and mission-life at San Juan 
Bautista. 

This was alarming : and in \~\'i the Duke of Linares, Viceroy of Mexico, 
despatched Don Domingo Ramon to Texas with a partj' of troops and some Fran- 
ciscan friars, to take steps for the permanent occupation of the country. Ramon 
established several forts and missions : among others he located a fort or presidio 
(Spanish, '" a garrison"), on the western bank of the San Pedro river, a small 
stream flowing through the western suburbs of the present city of San Antonio 
de Bexar, about three-fourths of a mile from the present Main Plaza. This 
presidio was called San Antonio de Valero. In May, 171.S, certain Alcantarine 
Franci.scans, of the College of Querctaro, established a mission under the protec- 
tion of the presidio, calling it by the same invocation, San Antonio de Valero. It 
was this mission whose Church of the Alamo afterwards shed so red a glory upon 
the Texan revolution. It had been founded fifteen years before, in the valley of 
the Rio Grande, under the invocation of San Francisco Solano ; had been removed 
to San Ildefonso in 170S, and again removed back to the Rio Grande in 1710 
under the new invocation of San Jose. It had not indeed yet reached the end of 
its wanderings. In M'l'l both the presidio and mission of San Antonio de Valero 



70 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

were removed to what is now known as the Military Plaza, and a permanent 
system of improvements begun. • 

Here then, with sword and crozier, Spain set to work at once to reduce her 
wild claim into possession, and to fulfill the condition upon which Pope Alex- 
ander had granted her the country — of christianising its natives. One cannot but 
lean one's head on one's hand to dream out, for a moment, this old Military 
Plaza — most singular spot on the wide expanse of the lonesome Texan prairies — 
as it was a hundred and fifty years ago. The rude buildings, the church, the 
hospital, the soldiers' dwellings, the brethren's lodgings, the huts for the con- 
verted Indians ( Viidios Rcducidos) stand ranged about the large level quadrangle, 
so placed upon the same theory of protection which "parks" the wagon-train 
that will camp this night on the plains. Ah, here they come, the inhabitants of 
San Antonio, from the church-door ; vespers is over ; the big-thighed, bow- 
legged, honse-riding Apache steps forth, .slowly, for he is yet iu a maze — the 
burning candles, the shrine, the genuflexions, the chants, are all yet whirling 
in his memory ; the lazy .soldier slouches by, leering at him, yet oli.serving a 
certain care not to be .seen therein, for Seiior Soldado is not wholl)- free from fear 
of this great-thewed Seiior Apache ; the soldiers' wives, the squaws, the cate- 
chumens, the children, all wend their ways across the plaza. Here advances 
Brother Juan, bare-footed, in a gown of serge, with his knotted scourge a-dangle 
from his girdle : he accosts the Indian, he draws him on to talk of Manitou, his 
grave pale face grows intense and his forehead wrinkles as he spurs his brain on 
to the devising of arguments that will convince this wild soul before him of the 
fact of the God of Adam, of Peter, and of Francis. Yonder is a crowd : alas, it 
is stout Brother Antonio, laying shrewd stripes with unsparing arm upon the back 
of a young Indian — so hard to convince the.se dusky youths and maidens of the 
wide range and ramifications of that commandment which they seem most prone 
to break. Ha ! there behind the church, if you look, goes on another flagel- 
lation : Brother Francis has crept back there, slipped his woollen gown from his 
shoulders, and fallen to with his knotted scourge upon his own bare back, for 
that a quick vision did, by instigation of the devil, cross his mind even in the 
very midst of vespers — a vision of a certain seiiorita as his wife, of a wann all- 
day sunned hacienda, of children playing, of fruits, of friends, of laughter — " O 
blessed St. Francis of A.ssis), fend off Sathanas ! " he cries, and raises a heavier 
welt. 

Presently, as evening draws on, the Indians hold meetings, males in one 
place, females in another ; reciting prayers, singing canticles : finally it is bed- 
time ; honest Brother Antonio goes around and locks the unmarried young male 
Indians into their sleeping apartments on one side, the maidens on the other side 
into theirs ; casts a glance mayhap towards Mexico, breathes a prayer, gets him 
to his pallet, and the Plaza of San Antonio de Valero is left in company of the 
still .sentinel, the stream of the San Pedro purling on one side, that of the San 
Antonio whispering on the other, under the quiet stars, midst of the solemn 
prairie, in whose long grass yonder (by all odds) crouches some keen-eyed 
Apache bravo/'- who has taken a fancy that he will ride Don Ramon's charger. 

♦Spanish, 2'j/if/i>s Urai'Ds: I'ncouverted Indians. 



SII)N1*,V LAXIl'R'S HISTORICAL SKIvTCII. 71 

The infant settlement soon begins to serve in that capacity which gives it a 
" iDad eminence" among the other Texas settlements for the next hundred years: 
towit, as the point to which, or from which, armies are retreating or advancing, 
or in which armies are fighting. Already, in 1719, before the removal to the 
Military Plaza, the scenes of war have been transacting themselves in the young 
San Antonio de Valero. On a certain day in the spring of that year, the peaceful 
people are astonished to behold ;ill their Spanish brethren who belong to the 
settlements eastward of theirs, come crowding into the town; monks, soldiers, 
women and all. In the confusion they quickly learn that in the latter part of the 
year before, France has declared war against Spain ; that the Frenchmen at 
Natchitoches, as soon as they have heard the news, have ru.shed to arms with 
Oallic impetuosity, and led by La Harpe and St. Denis, have advanced west- 
ward, have put to flight all the Spanish at Adaes, at Orquizaco, at Aes, and at 
Nacogdoches ; and that these are they who are here now, disturbing the peaceful 
mission with unwonted sights and sounds, and stretching its slender hospitalities 
to repletion. The French do not attack, however, but return towards Natchi- 
toches. In a short time enter from the opposite side of the stage, that is to say 
from Mexico, the Marquis de Aguayo, Governor-General of New Estremadura 
and the New Philippines, with five hundred mounted men. These march 
through, take with them the men of Orquizaco, of Adaes and Aes, re-establish 
those settlements, and pursue the French until they liear that the latter are in 
Natchitoches ; De Aguayo then returns to San Antonio and .sets on foot plans for 
its permanent improvement. 

About this time occurs a short and spicy correspondence, which for the first 
time probably announces the name of the State of Texas, and which explicitly 
broaches a dispute that is to last for many a year. The Spanish \'iceroy in 
Mexico appoints Don Martin D'Alarconne Governor of Texas. Soon afterwards 
La Harpe leaves the French post of Natchitoches and busies himself in advanc- 
ing the French interests among the Nassonite* Indians. In beginning this 
enterprise La Harpe sends "a polite message" to the Spanish Governor, who 
thereupon writes : 

'^Monsieur . — I am very sensible of the politeness that M. de Bienville and 
yourself have had the goodness to show to me. The orders I have received from 
the King my master are to maintain a good understanding with the French of 
Louisiana ; my own inclinations lead me equally to afiford them all the services 
that depend upon me. But I am compelled to say that your arrival at the 
Nassonite village surprises me much. Your Governor could not be ignorant that 
the post you occupy belongs to my government, and that all the lands west of 
the Nassonites depend upon New Mexico. I coun.sel you to inform M. Bienville 
of this, or you will force me to oblige you to abandon lands that the I'Vench have 
no right to occupy. I have the honor, etc. 

D'Alarconne. 
" Trhiily River, May 20, Jj/9." 

• A triUc. or set of triljcs. wlio?e scat of govcTiinitiit sefiiis lo liavc Itccii :i village calte*! Ttxas. on the cast 
bauk of the Neches River. 



72 SAN ANTONIO DK BKXAR. 

To this La Harpe makes reply : 

"Monsieur: — The order from his Catholic Majestj' to maintain a good 
understanding with the French of Louisiana, and the kind intentions you have 
yourself expressed towards them, accord but little with your proceedings. Permit 
me to apprise you that M. de Bienville is perfectly informed of the limits of his 
government, and is verj' certain that the post of Nassonite does not depend upon 
the dominions of his Catholic Majesty. He knows also that the Province of 
Lastekas,* of which you say you are Governor, is a part of Louisiana. M. dela 
Salle took possession in 1685, in the name of his most Christian Majesty, and 
since the above epoch possession has been renewed from time to time. Respect- 
ing the post of Nassonite, I cannot comprehend by what right you pretend that 
it forms a part of New Mexico. I beg leave to represent to you that Don 
Antonio de Minoir, who discovered New Mexico in KiSS, never penetrated east 
of that province or the Rio Bravo. It was the French who first made alliances 
with the savage tribes in this region, and it is natural to conclude that a river 
that flows into the Mississippi and the lands it waters belong to the King my 
master. If you will do me the pleasure to come into this quarter I will convince 
j'ou I hold a post I know how to defend. I have the honor, etc., 

De La Harpe. 
" Nasso7iite, July Sth, 1719." 

For several j-ears after the permanent location round the Military Plaza no 
important events seem to be recorded as happening in San Antonio ; but the 
quiet work of Post and Mission goes on, and the probable talk on the Plaza is of 
the three new Missions which De Aguayo establi.shes on the San Antonio River, 
below the town, under the protection of its garrison ; or of the tales which come 
slowly floating from the northward concerning the dreadful fate of a Spanish 
expedition which has been sent to attack the French settlements on the Upper 
Mississippi, and which, mistaking the hostile Missouris on the way for friendly 
Osages, distributes fifteen hundred muskets, together with sabres and pistols, to 
the said Missouris to be used against the French, whereupon the Missouris next 
morning at daybreak, fall upon the unsuspecting Spaniards, butcher them all 
(save the priest, whom they keep for a "magpie," as they call him, to laugh at), 
and march off into the French fort arrayed in great spoils, their chief wearing 
the chasuble and bearing the paten before him for a breastplate ; or of Governor 
De Aguayo's recommendation to the home government to send colonists instead 
of soldiers if it would help the friars to win the Indians; or of the appointment 
of a separate Governor for Texas in 1727 ; or of the withdrawal of ten soldiers in 
1729, leaving only forty -three in garrison at San Antonio. About 17''!1, 
however, an important addition is made to the town. Under the au.spices of the 
home government — which seems to have accepted De Aguayo's ideas — thirteen 
families and two single men arrive, pure Spaniards from the Canary Islands, 
al.so some Tlascalans, and a party from Monterey. These set to work around a 
Plaza (the " Plaza of the Constitution," or " Main Plaza") just eastward of and 

*Lastekas, /. (•. I^as Tekas : Tfxas. Th(- Frenchmen in those days appear to liave -rreat difficulty in in- 
venting orthographies for these odious Indian names. The Choctaws, for instance, appear in the documents 
of the time as " 7i://afM.s," the Chickasaws as " C///Crtc//f//.v-," the Cherokees as " CA('r«//«/V," and they can get 
no nearer to " Canianches " than ■' <. fiouniaii.f." or " Cauiieiisis" ! 



SIDXlvV I.ANII'RS HISTORICAL SKIvTCII. 73 

adjoiiiir.g the Military Plaza, and conmieiice a town which tliL-x- call San 
Fernando. ='= They are led, it seems, to this location by the same facility of 
irrigation which had recommended the Military Plaza to their neighbors. The 
new colonists impart vigor to affairs. The Missions prosper, Indians are ca])lured 
and brought in to be civilized whether or no, and on the Tjth of March, IT^il, the 
foundation is laid of the Mission of La Purisima Conccpcion dc Aania, on the San 
Antonio River, a mile or so below the town. 

Meantime a serious conspiracy against the welfare of San Antonio and S;in 
Fernando is hatched in the northeast. The Natchez Indians wish to revenge 
themselves upon the French, who have driven them from their home on the 
Mississippi. Tliej' resolve to attack St. Denis at Natchitoches, and to ])revent 
the Spaniards from helping him (the French and Spanish are now friends, having 
luiited against England), they procure the Apaches to assail San Antonio. St. 
Denis, however, surprises and defeats the Natchez ; and the Apaches appear to 
have made an organized attack, but to have confined themselves to murdering 
and thieving in parties. These Apaches, indeed, were dreadful scourges in 
these days to San Antonio and its environs. The people of the presidio of San 
Fernando and of the Mi.ssions on the River complained repeatedly (says the 
Ti'slimonio dc un Parcccr'^ in the archives of Bexar) that they cannot expand (sin 
podcr cstcndeysc) on account of " las freipiiejittes hosltilidadcs que experimcnltan de 
los Yndios Apaches." This great tribe had headquarters about the Pass of Ban- 
dera, some fifty miles to the northwestward, from which they forayed not only 
up to San Antonio, but even as far as to Coaliuila. Moreover, they manage (.says 
the Testimonid) horses, firearms, and arrows con miiciia dcstlreza y agilidad. 
Finally the men of San Antonio and San Fernando get tired of it, and after some 
minor counter- forays, they organize an expedition in 17o2 which conquers com- 
parative peace from the Apaches for a few years. 

Nothing of .special interest is recorded as happening in San Antonio from this 
time until 17o(). In Sejiteniber of that year arrives Don Carlos de Fraiupiis, who 
immediately proceeds to throw the town into a very pretty ferment. Fran(|nis had 
come out from Spain to Mexico to be Governor of Tla.scala. On arri\ing he 
finds that .someone else is already Governor of Tlascala. X'izarron. Arch- 
bishop of Mexico, and acting Viceroy since Casa I'uerte's death, dis])oses of him — 
it is likely he made trouble enough till tlial was done — by sending him otTto Texas 
to supersede Ciovernor ,Sando\-al, a fine old veteran, who has been for two years 
goveniing the Province with such soldierly fidelity as has won him great favor 
among the inhabitants. Franquis begins by insulting the priests, and follows this 
up with breaking o]>en people's letters. Presently he arrests Sandoval, has him 
chained, and causes criminal proceedings to be connnenced against him, charging 
him with treacherous complicity in certain movements of St. Denis at Natchitoches. 
It .seems that St. Denis, having found a higher and drier location, has removed his 
garrison and the French Mission of St. John the Bajnist some miles further from 
Red River toward the Texas territory, and bnill a new fort and settlements: that 

• Tile Villn Capital dc San I'lTiiaiido was not exclusively llu- M.iin IMaza seltlcnicnls — the I'1;iz.t dc Armas, 
or Military rlaza, was also ofit.— W. C, Ei». 

• Testimony of a witness; this document is hereinafter described. 



74 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

Sandoval, hearing of it, has promptly called him to account as an intruder en Span- 
ish ground; and that a correspondence has ensued between St. Denis and Sandoval, 
urging the rights of their respective goverinnents in the premises, which has ju.st 
been brought to the point of a flat issue upon which to go to the jur>- of \\ar when 
Sandoval is ousted by Franquis. Tlie Viceroy sends the Governor of New Leon to 
in\'estigate the trouble; and the famous law-suit of Franquis versus Sando\-al is 
fairl}- commenced. The Go\-ernor of New Leon seems to find against Franquis, 
who is sent back to the presidio on the Rio Grande. He gets away, howe\-er, and 
off" to the Viceroy. But JSandoval is not .satisfied, naturally, for he has been midcted 
in some three thousand four hundred dollars, cost of the investigating commission. 
He pays, and in 1738 files his petition against Franquis for redress of his injuries. 
Franquis, thus attacked in tuni, strengthens his position with a new line of accu.sa- 
tions. He now, besides the French business, charges Sandoval with li\ing at San 
Antonio instead of at Adaes, the official residence: with being irregular in his 
accounts with the San Antonio garrison: and with peculation in the matter of the 
salaries of certain paid missionaries, whom Sandoval is alleged to have discharged 
and then pocketed their stipends. The papers go the \^iceroy, and from the \'iceroy 
to Attorney-General Vedoya. In 1741) Vedoya decides Sandoval guilty of living at 
San Antonio, though it was his dut\- to be there to defend it against the Apaches; 
guilty of irregular book-keeping, though through memoranda it is found that there 
is a balance in his favor of thirteen hundred dollars: not .guilty of stealing the mis- 
sionary money. ITpon the French matter Vedoya will not decide without further 
evidence. With poor Sandoval it is pay again; he is fined five hundred dollars for 
his "guilt." Meantime, some months afterward an order is made that testimony 
be taken in Texas with regard to the French affair, said testimony to embrace an 
account of prett}- much everything in, about, and concerning Texas. The testi- 
mony being taken and returned, the Attorney- General, in November 1741, entirely 
acquits vSandoval. But alas for the stout old soldier! this is in Mexico, where from 
of old, if one is asked who rules now, one must repl\- with the circumspection of 
that Georgia judge who, being asked the politics of his son, made answer that 
he knezv not, not haviiis; seen the ercature since breakfast. Vizarron has gone out; 
the Duke de la Conquista has come into the Viceroyalt}-; and Sandoval has hardly 
had time to taste his hard-earned triumph before, through machinations of Fran- 
quis. he finds himself in prison by order of the new Viceroy. Finally, howe\-er, the 
rule works the other way; in December, 174;!, anew Viceroy, Count Fuenclara, 
gets hold of the pajiers in the case, acquits Sandoval, and enjoins Franquis from 
proceeding further in the matter. 

It was in the course of this litigation — a copy of the proceedings in which, 
"filling thirty volumes of manuscript, " was transmitted to Spain — that the old doc- 
ument hereinbefore referred to as the tcstimonio de un Parecer had its origin. In 
this paper San Antonio is called San Antonio de Vejar o \ 'alero: \'ejar being the 
Spanish orthography of the Mexican Bexar (pronounced Vay-har.) This name 
San Antonio de Bexar, seems to have attached itself particularly to the military 
post, ox presidio: its origin is not known. The town of San Fernando was still so 
called at this time; and the town and mission of San Antonio de Valero bore that 
name. In 1 744 this latter extended itself to the eastward, or rather the extension 
had probably gone on before that time and was only evidenced then. At any rate, 



SIDNKY LANIliR'S HISTORICAL SKETCH. 75 

oil tlie Stli of May, 1711, llic first stone of tin.' ]irL-SL'iit Church of tlic- Ahuiio was 
laid and lilessed. The site of this church is nc-arly a quarter of a mile to the ea.st- 
ward of the Military plaza, where the mission to which it belonged had been 
located in ll'l'l. Prom an old record-book purporting to contain the baptisms in 
"the Parish of the Vuahlo of San /ose del A/amo," it would aeem that there must 
have been also a settlement of that name, San Antonio de Bexar, therefore — 
the modern city — seems to be a consolidation of the presidio of San Antonio de 
Bexar, the mission and pueblo (or villa) of San Antonio de \'alero, and the pueblos 
of San Fernando and San Jose del Alamo. 

For the next forty years after the foundation of the Alamo in 1741, the colonists 
and missionaries seemed to have pursued the ordinary roiuid of their labors without 
unu.sual events; in point of material prosperity San Antonio seems to have led but 
a struggling existence. Yoakum * estimates the whole European population of 
of Texas in 1744, to have been fifteen hundred, which, together with about the 
same number of converted Indians, "was di\-ided mostly between Adaes and San 
Antonio. ' ' The same author again f estimates the population of Adaes and San 
Antonio in 17()'") to have been "hardlj- five hundred" Europeans, besides converted 
Indians, of whom he adds that there were only about seven hundred and fifty in 
the whole province of Texas. It was impossible indeed during the.se j-ears that 
any legitimate prosperty could ha\-e been attained. Up to the year 1762, when 
France, to save Louisiana from the clutches of England, ceded it to Spain, trade had 
been prohibited by the latter between her Texan colonists and the French .settlers 
in Louisiana, though some intercourse alwa\s went on in a smuggling way between 
the two, whenever they cxmld get a S]ianisli official to wink his e\-e or tuni his back; 
and even after the cession of Louisiana matters were little better in point of com- 
mercial activity. There were also restrictions even upon the agricultural energies 
of the colonists; they were, it is said, prohibited from cultivating the vine and the 
olive, and also from the manufacture of many articles. Indeed, the inmiediate nec- 
es,sity of settlements having pa.ssed awa\- with the removal of the danger of French 
occupation, the old policy of Spain seems to have been resumed in full force, that 
of keeping her provinces around New Mexico and Mexico impenetrable wastes, as 
barriers against enterprising neighbors. 

Nor was the sjiiritual pro.sperity nuich greater. The arduous toils and suliHnie 
devotions of the Franciscan brethren bore but moderate fruit. Father Mare.sl had 
declared in 171'2 that the conversion of the Indians was "a miracle of the Lord's 
mercy," and that it was " necessary first to transform them into men, and afterward 
to labor to make them Christians." These noble brothers too liad reason tobeheve 
in the inhumanit\' of the Indians. They could remember the vSan Saba Mission: 
where, in 17")S, the Indians had fallen upon the ])eo])le and massacred ever\ huni.ui 
being, lay and clerical ; and here, in 1 7M''), they coukl see for themselves the 
company of ,San Carlos de Parras driven by the fierce Comanches to place their 
quarters within the enclosure of the .Mamo. 

In nSo-'S") San Antonio de Yalero ceased to be a Mis.sion. For .some rea.son 
it had become customary to send whate\-er capti\e Indians were brought in to the 

• History of Texas, vol. 1. p. H7. 
tVol. 1. p. W. 



76 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

Missions below the town for Christianization. The town, however, which had 
been built up about the Mission buildings, remained, having a separate alcalde, and 
an organization politically and religiously distinct from that of vSan Antonio de 
Bexar and San Fernando for some years longer. In 17'.**) the population around 
the Alamo was increased by the addition of the people from the Presidio de los 
Adaes ; this post was abandoned, and its inhabitants were provided with lands 
which had been the property of the Mission of vSan Antonio de Valero, lying in the 
neighborhood of the Alamo to the north. " The upper labor'"- of the Alamo," says 
Mr. Giraud, in an interesting note wliich constitutes Appendix iv. of Yoakum's 
History of Texas, " . , . is still counnonly called by the old inhabitants the 
labor de los Adaesenos.'" These Mission lands about the Alamo seem to have ceased 
to be such about this time, and to have been divided off to the Mission people, each 
of whom received a portion, with fee-simple title. f In 1793 the distinct religious 

* Labor: a Spanish laud-measure of about one hundred and seventy-seven acres. 

■(•[the partition of the lands of the mission of SAN ANTONIO HE VALERO OR ALAMO MISSION TO THE 
SETTLERS OF THE EXTINGUISHED POST OR PRESIDIO OF ADAES WHO HAD liEEN BROVGHT TO THIS MISSION UPON 
THE BREAKING UP OF THAT POST. 

The Presidio of the Adaes was a Spanish frontier Post of Eastern Texas. Its site was almost due east 
from Nacogdoches between the Sabine and Red Rivers, in Louisiana Territory. It was abandoned and broken 
up about 1790. It had been of some importance iu its day. Upon its extinction its settlers were brought to Sau 
Antonio de Valero. It would appear that the Spanish Government, about the year 17S4, were a little dissatisfied 
with results iu the Province of Texas, and became curious or anxious to know something of the general welfare 
and condition of the Missions of Texas, aud an order was issued under the mandate of the King for an official 
report of the Texas Missions. This report was not concluded and forwarded until December '27th. 17U.S, when it 
was done by El Conde de Revilla-gigedo. Viceroy of Mexico. He instituted some changes, apparently sug- 
gested to him by his enquiries and by petitions sent to him by certain resident Adaes. San Antonio de Valero 
was now no longer a Mission, but of course it enters into his report. The following is a letter from a tran- 
slated copy deposited in the City P^ngiueer's Records iu IH08, apparently addressed to Manuel Munioz. Pro- 
visional Governor, in 17!>2 : 

'* I return you the enclosed proceedings marked P. V. number 21, pages 19, which you seut me with your 
letters marked M94, dated the 29th of last October, and in which the residents of San Antonio de Bexar petition 
for the distriVnition amongst them of lands in consideration of their having been the settlers of the extinguished 
Presidio of the Adaes, so that in conformity with the opinion of the War .Auditor with which I have agreed iu a 
superior decree of the I7th, present, (month) you shall order its compliance. God keep you many years. 

" Mexico, November the 20th, 1792. 

•' The Count of Revilla-gigedo. 

" S. Dn. Ramon de Castro, Secretary. 
" (A copy. Coahuila, 27th December. 1792. Castro.) " 
(Translated by A. A. Lewis, October 2d. 1S5S.) 

The document translation from which this is an excerpt, is headed: " Copy of Proceedings sent to the 
Commander titneral on July 27th, 17!i;>. respecting the Partition of lands to the Adaes and returned by that 
Superiority to the Government so that the interested parties have it more in their reach to apply for testimonios 
that may serve them as titles. 

" M. Munioz, 
" Lieut. Col. of Cavalry of the Royal Armies of His Majesty, Political and Military Governor of the Province of 

" Texas and Wew Philippines." 

So, it seems, that these Adaes might be fittingly provided for, the Count issued an order to Manuel 
Munioz to divide amongst them the Alamo Mission lauds. Accordingly Don Pedro Huizar is ordered to snr\-ey 
the suertes and Bernardo Zervantes is appointed to divule the lands among the Indians and settlers, January 
17th, 179;{. A drawing or lottery was to be held to decide who should have first choice of the suertes surveyed, 
each individual to be granted by lot a piece of land, as much as 4 pecks of seed corn will cover, and they are all 
cautioned to be satisfied with what falls to their lot or luck, whether they draw land bordering the irrigating 
ditches or merely ordinary pasture land. "'On February 24th, 179;i. the following named Adae Indians received 
their portions of land," then follows in the recordsof the County a list of names, viz : 

" No. 1. Suerte a, Manuel Martinez. 

" No. 2. Suerte ^ Jose Rodriguez. 

" No. vl. Suerte a Manuel de los Santos. 

" No. 4. Suerte a Joachin Musquiz, etc., etc. 5(i Grants altogether," 

The only condition under which these Indians seem to have held their lands, was that they were to pay 
a Church debt out of a part of the crops and produce of their lauds. At this date, Father Francisco Josu Lopez 
was President of the Missions.— W. C, Ed.] 

MEM. The Labor of Abajo to pay with its products the debts that the Mission miglit have at the time of 
its delivery over to tlie public. 

MEM. Ramon de Castro was Count ol Sierra Gorda.— W. C. Ed. 



STDNKV LANIKR'S IIISToRICAl, SRICTCH. 77 

organization of the Mission of San Antonio de Valero terminated, and it was 
aggregated to the curaey of tlie town of San Fernando and the presidio of San 
Antonio de Bexar ; as appears by the following note whicli is found on the last 
page of an old Record book of baptisms in the arcln\-es of Hexar : — 

"On the 22d day of August, 17!);>, I passed this book of the Records of the 
pueblo of San Antonio de Valero to the archives of the curacy of the town of San 
Fernando and presidio of San Antonio de Bexar, by order of the most illustrious 
Seiior Dr. Don Andres de Llanos y Valdez, most worthy Bishop of this diocese, 
dated January 2d, of the same year, by reason of said pueblo having been aggre- 
gated to the curacy of Bexar ; and that it may be known, I sign it. 

" 1'k. Josk Francisco Lopkz, Parroco." 

In the year ISOO San Antonio began to see a new sort of prisoners brought in. 
Instead of captive Indians, liere arrived a party of eleven Americans* in irons, who 
were the remainder of a company willi which I'liili]) Nolan, a trader between 
Natchez and San Antonio, had started out, and who, after a sharj) fight with one 
hundred and fifty vS])anish .soldiers in which Nolan was killed, had been first 
induced to return to Nacogdoches, and there treacheroush' manacled and .sent to 
prison at vSan Antonio. Again, in LSOo, three Americans are brought in under 
guard. In this year, too, matters begin to be a little more li\-ely in the town. 
Spain's neighbor on the east is not now France ; for in ISO.'! Lonisian.a has been 
formally transferred to the I'nited .States. There is already trouble with the latter 
about the boundary line betwixt Louisiana and Texas. Don Antonio Cordero, the 
new Governor of Texas, has brought on a lot of troo])s through the town, and fi.xed 
his official residence here ; and troops continue to march through eii route to 
Natchitoches, where the American General Wilkinson is, menacing the border. 
Again, in 1S(I7, Lieutenant Zebidon .M. Like, of the Lnited States Army, ])a.sses 
through town in charge of an escort. Lieutenant Like has been sent to explore the 
Arkansas and Red Rivers, and to treat with the Comanches, has been apprehended 
by the S])anisli anthorities in New Mexico, carried to vSanta h'e, and is now being 
escorted home. 

At this time there are four hundred troops in San Antonio, in quarters near 

the Alamo. Besides the.se, the town has a1)out two thon.sand inhabitants, mostly 

Spaniards and Creoles, the remainder F'renchmen, Americans, civilized Indians, 

\and half-breeds. New .settlers have come in ; and what with army officers, the 

Governor's people, the clergy, and prominent citizens, society begins to form and 

enjoy itself. The Governor, Father McGuire, Colonel Delgado, Captain Ugarte, 

doctor Zerbin, dispense hospitalities and adoni social meetings. There are, in the 

I'enings, levees at the Governor's ; sometimes Mexican dances on the Plaza, at 

\iichall assist ; and fretpient and prolonged card parties. 

But these peaceful .scenes do not last long. In IM 1 the ]iassers across the San 
itonio river between the Alamo and the Main Plaza l)ehold a strange sight: it is 
thVhead of a man stuck on a jiole, there, in bloody menace against rebels. This 
lie\ but vesterday was on the shouhlers of Colonel Delgado, a flying adherent of 
HiOgo, in Mexico: Hidalgo, initiator of how long a train of Mexican revolutions! 

Vincricniis, /. f. I'nited Stales people ; in wliich sense, to avoid the awkwardness of tile only other equiv • 
aleut\|„s. I shall hereafter use the word. 



78 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

having been also put to death in Chilmahua. It was not long before this blood was 
(as from of old) washed out with other blood. Bernardo Gutierrez, a fellow-rebel 
of the unfortunate Delgado, escaped to Natchitoches, and met >oung Magee, an 
oflficer of the United States army. In a short time the two had assembled a mixed 
force of American adventurers and rebellious Me.Kican republicans, had driven the 
Spanish troops from Nacogdoches, marched into Texas, captured the fort and sup- 
plies at Ea Bahia, enlisted its garrison, and sustained a .siege there which the enemy 
was finally compelled to abandon with lo.ss. It was in March, isi;}, that the 
Spani.sh besieging force set out on its retreat up the river to .San Antonio. Gutier- 
rez — Magee having committed suicide in consequence of mortification at the 
indignant refusal of the troops to accept a surrender which he had negotiated .soon 
after the beginning of the siege — determined to pursue. On the 2,Sth of March he 
crossed the Salado, en route to San Antonio, with a force consisting of eight hundred 
Americans under Colonel Kemper, one hundred and eighty Mexicans led by Man- 
chaca,* under Colonel James Gaines, three hundred Lipan and Twowokana Indians, 
and twenty-five Cooshattie Indians. Marching along the bank of the San Antonio 
river, with the left flank protected by the .stream, this motley anuy arrived within 
nine miles of San Antonio, when the riflemen on the right suddenly discovered the 
enemy ambushed in the chaparral on the side of a ridge. Here the whole force 
that Governor Salcedo could muster had been po.sted, consisting of about fifteen 
hundred regular troops and a thousand militia. To gain time to form, the Indians 
were ranged to receive the opening charge of the Spanish cavalry: the enemy mean- 
time having immediately formed along the crest of the ridge, with twelve pieces of 
artiller\- in the centre. The Indians broke at the first shock: only the Cooshatties 
and a few others stood their ground. These received two other charges, in which 
they lost two killed and se\-eral wounded. The Americans had now made their 
di.spo.sitions, and proceeded to execute them with matchless coolness. They charged 
up the hill, stopped at thirty }-ards of the enemy's line, fired three rounds, loaded, 
then charged again, and straighway the slope towards San Antonio was dotted with 
Spanish fugiti\-es, whom the Indians pursued and butchered regardless of quarter. 
The Spanish conunander, who had pledged .sword and head to Governor Salcedo 
that he would kill and capture the American army, could not endure the sting of 
his misfortune. He spurred his horse upon the American ranks, attacked Major 
Ross, then Colonel Kemper, and while in the act of striking the latter, was shot b}- 
pri\-ate VV'illiam Owen. The Spanish loss is said to have been near a thousand 
killed and wounded. 

Next day the Americans advanced to the outskirts of San Antonio and d' 
nianded a surrender. Governor Salcedo desired to parley, to delay. A secorl 
demand was made — peremptory. Governor Salcedo then marched out with 's 
staff. He presented his sword to Captain Taylor ; Taylor refu.sed, and refer-'d 
him to Colonel Kemper. Presenting to Colonel Kemper, he was in turn refe^ed 
to Gutierrez. No, not to that rebel ! Salcedo thrust his sword into the groid, 
wdieuce Gutierrez drew it. The victors got stores, arms, and treasure. Seen- 
teen American prisoners in the Alamo were released and armed. The t'ops 
were paid — receiving a bonus of fifteen dollars each in addition to wage.s — cthed 

* A proiniuent Mexican, of Te.xas. of strong hut iiiu-nUivatt'd intellect. 



SIDNEY LANIER'S HISTORICAL SKlvTCH. 79 

and niountcd out of the booty. The- Indians were not Ibri^otten in llie dislrihu- 
tion ; they " were .siii)plied," says Yoakiun, "with two dollars' worth of ver- 
milion, together with jiresents of the value of a hundred and thirty dollars, and 
sent away rejoicing." 

Antl now llowetl the hloocl that must answer that which dripjied down the 
pole from poor Colonel Delgado's head. Shortly after the victory. Captain Del- 
gado, a son of the executed rebel, falls upon his knees before Gutierrez, and de- 
mands vengence upon the ])risoner. Governor Salcedo, who apprehended and 
executed his father. Gutierrez arrays his army, informs them that it would be 
safe to send Salcedo and staff to New Orleans, and that it so happens that ves- 
sels are about to sail for that port from Matagorda Hay. The army consents (we 
are so fearfully and wonderfully rei)ublican in these days : the army con.sents) 
that the prisoners be sent off as pro])osed. Captain Delgado, with a company of 
Mexicans, starts in charge, ostensibly en route for Matagorda Hay. There are 
fifteen of the distinguished captives : (lovernor Salcedo, of Texas, Governor 
Herrera, of New Leon, Ex-Governor Cordero, whom we last saw holding levees 
in San Antonio, several vSpanish and Mexican officers, and one citizen. Delgado 
gets his prisoners a mile and a half from town, halts them on the bank of the 
river, strips them, ties them, and cuts the throats of every man : " some of the 
assassins," says Colonel Navarro, whetting "their knives upon the .soles of their 
shoes in presence of their victims." 

The town of San Antonio must have been anything but a pleasant place for 
peaceful citizens during the next two months. Colonel Kem])er, who was really the 
commanding officer of the American army, refused further connection with those 
who could be guilty of such barbarity, and left, with other American officers. 
Their departure left in the town an uncontrolled iiody of troops who feared 
neither God nor man ; and these immediately proceeded to avail themselves of 
the situation by indulging in all manner of riotous and lawless pleasures. With 
the month of June, however, came Don Elisondo from Mexico with an army of 
royalists, consisting of about three thousand men half of whom were regular 
troops. His advance upon San Antonio .seems to have been a complete .surprise, 
and to have been only learned by the undisciplined republican army in the town, 
together with the fact that he had captured their horses, which had been out 
grazing, and killed part of the guard which was protecting the caballada. If El- 
i.sondo had marched .straight on into town, his task would probably have been an 
easy one. But he committed the fatal mistake of encami)ing a short distance 
from the suburbs, where he threw up two bastions with a curtain lietween, on a 
ridge near the Alazan Creek. 

Meantime the republican army in the town recovered from the confusion into 
which they had been thrown by the first intelligence of Elisondo's ])roximity, 
and organized themselves under Gutierrez and Captain Perry. It was determined 
to anticipate the enemy's attack. Ingress and egress were prohibited, the senti- 
nels doubled, and all the cannons spiked e.xce])t four field-])ieces. In the darkness 
of the night of June 4th the Americans marched ([uietly out of town, by file, to 
within hearing of the enemy's pickets, and remained there until the enemy was 
heard at matins, The signal to charge being given — a cheer from the right of 



80 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

companies — the Americans advanced, surprised and captured the pickets in front, 
mounted the enem3''s work, lowered his flag and hoisted their own, before they 
were fairly discovered through the dim dawn. The enemy struggled hard, how- 
ever, and compelled the Americans to abandon the works. The latter charged 
again, and this time routed the enemj- completely. The royalist loss is said to 
have been about a thousand in killed, wounded and prisoners; and that of the 
Americans, ninetj^-four killed and mortally wounded. 

For some reason Gutierrez was now dismissed from the leadership of the 
army (we republican .soldiers decapitate our commanders very quickly if they 
please us not !), and shortly afterwards troops and citizens went forth in grand 
procession to welcome Don Jo.se Alvarez Toledo, a distingui.shed republican 
Cuban who had been forwarding recruits from Louisiana to San Antonio ; and 
having escorted him into town with nuich ceremony, elected him commander-in- 
chief of the Republican Army of the North. Toledo immediately organised a 
government ; but ihe people of San Antonio enjoyed the unaccustomed blessing 
of civil law only a little while. 

In a few days enter, from over the Mexican border. Gen. Arredondo, with 
the remnant of Elisondo's men and some fresh troops, about four thousand in all, 
en route for San Antonio. Toledo marches out to meet him with about twent}^- 
five hundred men, one-third of whom are Americans, the balance Mexicans under 
Manchaca ; and on the 18th of August, 1813, they come together. Arredondo 
decoj'S him into an ingenious cul de sac which he has thrown up, just south of the 
Medina River, and has concealed by cut bushes ; and pours such a murderous 
fire of cannon and small arms upon him, that in spite of the gallantry of the right 
wing where the Americans are, the retreat which Toledo has ordered too late 
becomes a mere rout, and the republican army is butchered without mercy. One 
batch of sev^enty or eighty fugitives is captured by the pursuing royalists, tied, 
set by tens upon a log laid across a great grave, and shot ! 

On the 20th Arredondo enters San Antonio in great triumph, and straight- 
way proceeds to wreak fearful vengeance upon the unhapp}' town for the massacre 
of his brother governors. Seven hundred citizens are thrown into prison. Dur- 
ing the night of the 20th eighteen die of suffocation out of three hundred who are 
confined in one house. The.se only anticipate the remainder, who are shot, with- 
out trial, in detachments. Five hundred republican women are imprisoned in a 
building, derisively termed the Ouuita, and compelled to make up twenty-four 
bushels of corn into tortillas every day for the royalist army. Having thus sent 
up a sweet savor of revenge to the spirits of the murdered Salcedo, Cordero> 
Herrera, and the others, Arredondo finally gathers their bones together and 
buries them. In all this blood the prosperity of San Antonio was drowned. To 
settlers it offered no inducements ; to most of its former citizens it held out noth- 
ing but terror ; and it is described as almost entirely abandoned in 181(1. 

In December, 1820, arrived a person in San Antonio who, though not then 
known as such, was really a harbinger of better times. This was Moses Austin, 
of Connecticut. He came to see Governor Martinez, with a view of bringing a 
colony to Texas. The two, with the Baron de Bastrop, put in train the prelimi- 
nary application for permission to Arredondo, Commandant-General at Monterey. 



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FAC-SIMII.KS OK SKINA I T RES OK HlSrOKICAL I'KKSONAGKS. 



SIDNlvY LANIlvR'S HISTORICAI. SKl'.TCH. 81 

Austin, it is true, died soon afterwards ; Iiut he left his project to his son Stephen 
F., who afterwards carried it out with a patience that amounted to genius and a 
fortitude that was equivalent to the favor of Heaven. 

On the 24th of August, 1.S21, Don Juan O'Donoju and Vturhide entered into 
the Treaty of Cordova, which substantially perfected the separation of Mexico 
from the mother-country. When the intelligence of this event had spread, the 
citizens of San Antonio returned. Moreover, about this time a tide of emigra- 
tion began to set towards Texas. The Americans who had composed part of the 
array of Gutierrez had circulated fair reports of the country. In IS'i.'i San 
Antonio is said to have had five thousand inhabitants ; though the Comanche.s 
appear still to have had matters all their own waj- when they came into town, as 
they frequently did, to buy beads and other articles with skins of deer and 
buffalo. One would find this difficult to believe, but reasoning a priori, it is 
rendered probable by the fact that in the decree of the the Federal Congress of 
Mexico of the ■24th of August, l.s2(j, to provide for raising troops to serve in 
Coahuila and Texas as frontier defenders, it is ordered that out of the gross levies 
there shall be first preferred for military service " los va^os y mal cni/r/aiidos," 
vagrant and evil disposed persons ; and a posteriori, it is quite confirmed by the 
experience of Olmsted in San Fernando (a considerable town west of the Rio 
Grande) so late as 1S.54, where he found the Indians "lounging in and out of 
every house .... with such an air as indicated they were masters of the 
town. They entered every door," adds Olmsted, '" fell on every neck, patted the 
women on the check, helped themselves to whatever suited their fancy, and dis- 
tributed their scowls or grunts of pleasure according to their sensations." 

In the year 1S24 a lot of French merchants passed through San Anionio cii 
route to Santa Fe on a trading expedition. Some distance from town their pack- 
animals were all stolen by Indians ; but they managed to get carts and oxen from 
San Antonio, and .so conveyed their goods finally to Santa Fe, where they sold 
them at an immense profit. In 1831 the Bowie brothers, Rezin P. and James, 
organised in San Antonio their expedition in search of the old reputed silver 
mines at San Saba Mission. In the course of this unlucky venture occurred their 
famous Indian fight, where the two Bowies, with nine others, fought a pitched 
battle with one hundred and sixty-four Indians who had attacked them with 
arrow, with rifle, and with fire from sundown to sun.set, killing and wounding 
eighty-four. They then fortified their position during the night, maintained it 
for eight days afterwards, and finally returned to San Antonio with their horses 
and three wounded comrades, leaving one man killed. 

It is related that in ls.';2 a Comanche Indian attempted t(j abduct a Shawnee 
woman in San .Antonio. She escaped him, joined a party other people who were 
staj'ing some thirty five miles from town, and informed them where the Comanches 
(of whom five hundred had been in town for some purpose) would probably camp. 
The Shawnees ambushed themselves at the spot indicated. The Comanches 
came on and stopped as expected : the Shawnees poured a fire into them, and 
repeated it as they continually rallied, until the Comanches abandoned the con 
test with a loss of one hundred and seveut\-five dead. 



82 SAN ANTONIO BE BEXAR. 

Early ill 1S?)3 (or perhaps late in December 1832) arrives in San An'ionio 
for the first time one who is to be called the father of his country. This is Sam 
Houston. He comes in company with the famous James Bowie, son-in-law of 
Vice-Governor \'eramendi, and holds a consultation with the Comanche chiefs 
here, to arrange a meeting at Cantonment Gibson with a view to a treaty of 
peace. Meantime trouble is brewing. Young Texas does not get on well with 
his mother. What seems to hurt most is the late union of Texas with Coahuila. 
This we cannot stand. Stephen F Austin goes to the City of Mexico with a 
memorial on the subject to the federal government. He writes from there to the 
municipality of San Antonio. Oct. 2d, 18o.'5, informing the people that their 
request is likely to be refused, and advising them to make them.selves ready for 
that emergency. The municipality hand this letter over to Vice-President Farias, 
who, already angry with Austin on an old account, arrests him on his wa}- home 
and throws him in prison, back in the city of Mexico. 

In October, 1834, certain people in San Antonio hold what Yoakum calls 
' ' the first strictly revolutionary meeting in Texas;" for Santa Anna \\2.\^ pronounced, 
and got to be at the head of affairs, and he refuses to separate Texas from Coa- 
huila. So, through meetings all over the state ; through conferences of citizen 
deputations with Col. Ugartechea, Mexican Commandant at San Antonio, for 
the purpose of explaining matters ; through confused arguments and resolutions 
of the peace party and the war party ; through confused rumors of the advance 
of Mexican General Cos with an army ; through squabbling and wrangling and 
final fighting over the cannon that had been lent by the Post of Bexar to the 
people of Gonzales ; through all manner of civic trouble consequent upon the 
imprisonment of Governor Viesca of Texas by Santa Anna, and the suspension of 
the progress of the civil law machine, we come to the time when the committee 
of San Felipe boldly cry : ''Let us take Bexar and drive the Mexican soldiery out 
of Texas!" and presently, here, on the 2Sth of October, 1835, is General Cos 
with his army in San Antonio, fortifj'ing for dear life, while yonder is Austin 
with a thousand Texans, at Mission Concepcion, a mile and a half down the river 
below town, where Fannin and Bowie with ninety men in advance have a few 
hours before waged a brilliant battle with four hundred Mexicans, capturing their 
field-piece, killing and wounding a hundred or more, and driving the rest back 
to town. 

General Austin believes, it seems, that Cos will surrender without a battle ; 
and so remains at Concepcion till November 2d, then marches up past the town 
on the east side, encamps four or five days, marches down on the west side, dis- 
plays his forces on a hill side in terrorein, sends in a demand for surrender — and 
is flatly answered no. He resolves to lay siege. The days pass slowly, the 
enemy will not come out though allured with all manner of military enticements, 
and the army has no "fun," with the exception of one small skirmish, until the 
2()th, when "Deaf" Smith* di.scovers a party of a hundred Mexican troops, who 
have been sent out to cut prairie-grass for the horses in town, and reporting them 
in camp, brings on what is known as the "grass-fight." Colonel James Bowie 

*Oiic of the most celebrated and efiicieiit scouts ortlic revolution. [Whose grandchildren are well known 
in this city to-day. — W. C. Kd.] 



SIDNEY LANlHR'vS HISTORICAL SKI'TCH. 83 

attacks with a hundred mounted men ; l)i)th sides are ([uickly reinforced, and a 
shar]) running fight is kept up until the enemy get back to town: the Texans 
capturing seventy horses and killing some fifty of the enemy, with a loss of but 
two wounded and one missing. Meantime discontents arise. On the day before 
the "grass-fight" Austin resigns, having been appointed Commi.ssioner to the 
United States, and Edward Burleson is elected by the armj^ to the command. 
General Burleson, for some reason, seems loth to storm. Moreover, one Dr. 
James Grant seduces a large part\- with a wild project to leave San Antonio and 
attack Matamoras, when he declares that the whole of Mexico will rise and over- 
whelm Santa Anna ; and on the 2!lth of November it is actually announced that 
two hundred and twenty-five men are determined to start the next morning. 

But they do not start. It is whispered the town will be stormed. On the 
ord of December, Smith, Holmes, and Maverick escape from San Antonio, and 
give the Texan commander such information as apparently determines him to 
storm. Volunteers are called for to attack early next morning ; all day and all 
night of that December ord the men make themselves ready, and long for the 
moment to advance : when here comes word from the General's quarters that the 
attack is put off ! Chagrin and indignation prev'ail on all sides. On the morning 
of the 4th there is open disobedience of orders ; whole companies refuse to parade. 
Finally, when on the same afternoon orders are issued to abandon camp and 
march for La Bahia at seven o'clock, the tumult is terrible, and it s^ems likelj- 
that the.se wild energetic souls, failing the Mexicans, will end by exterminating 
each other. 

Midst of the confusion here arrives Mexican Lieutenant \'uavis, a deserter, 
and declares that the projected attack is 7iot known (as had been assigned for 
reason of postponing), and that the garrison in town is in as bad order and dis- 
content as the besiegers. At this critical moment a brave man suddenly crystal- 
li.sed the loose mass of discordant men and opinions into one compact force and 
one keen purpose. It is late in the morning. Col. Benjamin R. Milam steps forth 
among the men. and cries aloud : " Who will go with old Ben Milam into Sau 
Antonio?'' Three hundred and one men will go. 

A little before daylight on the oth they "go," Gen. Burleson agreeing to 
hold his position until he hears from them. Milam marches into and along 
Acequia Street with his party : Johnson with his along Soledad Street. Where 
these debouch into the Main Plaza, Cos has thrown up breastworks and placed 
raking batteries. The columns march parallel along the quiet streets. Pres- 
ently, as Johnson gets near the Veramendi House (which he is to occupy, while 
Milam is to gain De la Garza's house), a Mexican sentinel fires. Deaf Smith 
shoots the sentinel. The Mexicans prick up their ears, prick into their cannon- 
cartridges; the Plaza batteries open, the Alamo batteries join in ; spade, crowbar, 
rifle, escopet, all are plied, and the storming of Bexar is begun. 

But it would take many such papers as this to give even meagre details of 
all the battles that have been fought in and around San Antonio, and one must 
pass over the four days of this thrilling conflict with briefest mention. It is 
novel fighting ; warfare intranuiral, one might say. The Texans advance inch 
by inch by piercing through the stone walls of the houses, necking loop-holes 



84 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

with crowbars for their rifles as the}- gain each room, picking off the enemy from 
his housetops, from around his cannon, even from behind his own loop-holes. 
On the night of the oth with great trouble and risk the two coknnns succeed in 
opening communication with each other. On the Gth they advance a little 
beyond the Garza house. On the 7th brave Karnes steps forth with a crowbar 
and breaks into a house midway between the Garza house and the Plaza ; brave 
Milam is stricken by a rifle ball just as he is entering the yard of the Veramendi 
house and falls instantly dead ; and the Navarro house, one block from the Main 
Plaza, is gained. On the 8th they take the " Zambrano Row" of buildings, 
driving the enemy from it room b)' room ; the enemy endeavor to produce a 
diversion with fifty men, and do, in a sense, for Burleson finds some diversion in 
driving them back precipitately with a six-pounder ; at night those in the Zam- 
brano Row are reinforced, and the "Priest's House" is gained amid heavy 
fighting. 

This last is the stroke of grace. The Priest's House commands the Plaza. 
Early on the morning of the 9th General Cos .sends a flag of truce, asking to sur- 
render, and on the lOth agrees with Gen. Burleson upon formal and honorable 
articles of capitulation. 

The poor citizens of San Antonio de Bexar, however, do not yet enjoy the 
blessings of life in quiet ; these wild soldiers who have stormed the town cannot 
remain long without excitement. Presently Dr. Grant revives his old Mata- 
moras project, and soon departs, carrying with him most of the troops that had 
been left at Bexar for its defense, together with great part of the garrison's winter 
supply of clothing, ammunition and provisions, and in addition "pressing" such 
property of the citizens as he needs, insomuch that Col. Neill, at that time in 
command at Bexar, writes to the Governor of Te.xas that the place is left desti- 
tute and defenceless. Soon afterward Col. Neill is ordered to destroy the Alamo 
walls and other fortifications, and bring off' the artillery, since no head can be 
made there in the present crisis against the enemy, who is reported marching in 
force upon San Antonio. Having no teams. Col. Neill is unable to obey the 
order, and presentlj' retires, his unpaid men having dropped oflF until but eighty 
remain, of whom Colonel Wm. B. Travis assumes command. Colonel Travis 
promptly calls for more troops, but gets none as yet, for the Governor and Coun- 
cil are at deadly quarrel, and the soldiers are all pressing towards Matamora?. 
Travis has brought thirty men with him ; about the middle of February he is 
joined by Colonel Bowie with thirty others, and these, with the eighty already in 
garri.son, constitute the defenders of San Antonio de Bexar. On the 2;>d of Feb- 
ruary appears General Santa Anna at the head of a well-appointed army of some 
four thousand men, and marches straight on into town. The Texans retire 
before him slowly, and finally shut themselves up in the Alamo ; here straight- 
way begins that bloodiest, smokie.st, grimiest tragedy of this century. William 
B. Travis, James Bowie, and David Crockett, with their hundred and forty-five 
effective men, are enclosed within a stone rectangle one hundred and ninety feet 
long and one hundred and twenty-two feet wide, having the old church of the 
Alamo in the southeast corner, in which are their quarters and magazine. They 
have a supply of water from the ditches that run alongside the walls, and by way 



SIDNKY LANII'R'S HISTORICAL SKKTCII. 85 

of provision they have about tiinetN- l)usht-ls of corn and Uiirty beef-cattle, their 
entire stock, all collected since the enemy came in sij^ht. The walls are un- 
broken, with no angles from whicli to command besei.ning lines. They have 
fourteen pieces of artillery mounted, with but little aninumition. 

Santa Anna demands unconditional surrender. Travis replies with a cannon- 
shot, and the attack commences, the enemy running up a blood-red flag in town. 
Travis dispatches a messenger with a call to his countrymen for reinforcements, 
which concludes : " Though this call may be neglected, I am determined to sus- 
tain myself as long as possible, and die like a soldier who never forgets what is 
due to his own honor and that of his country. Victory or death ! " Meantime 
the enemy is active. On the 25th Travis has a sharp fight to prevent him from 
erecting a batterj' raking the gate of the Alamo. At night it is erected, with 
another a half-mile off at the Garita, or powder-house, on a sharp eminence at 
the extremity of the present main street of the town. On the 26th there is skir- 
mishing with the Mexican cavalry. In the cold — for a norther has commenced to 
blow and the thermometer is down to thirty-nine — the Texans make a sally suc- 
cessfully for wood and water, and that night they burn some old houses on the 
northeast that might afford cover for the enemy. So amid the enemy's constant 
rain of shells and balls, which miraculously hurt no one, the Texans strengthen 
their works and the siege goes on. On the 2Sth Fannin starts from Goliad with 
three hundred troops and four pieces of artillery, but for lack of teams and pro- 
visions quickly returns, and the little garrison is left to its fate. On the morning 
of the first of March there is doubtless a wild shout of welcome in the Alamo ; 
Captain John \V. Smith has managed to convey thirty-two men from Gonzales 
into the fort: These join the heroes, and the attack and defence go on. On the 
3rd a single man, Moses Rose, escapes from the fort. His account of that day* 
must entitle it to consecration as one of the most pathetic days of time. 

"About two hours before sunset on the 3rd of March, l.s;!G, the bombard- 
ment suddenlj- ceased, and the enemy withdrew an unusual distance Col- 
onel Travis paraded all his effective men in a single file, and taking his position 
in front of the centre, he stood for some moments apparently speechless from 
emotion : then ner\-ing himself for the occasion, he addressed them substantially 
as follows ; — 

"'My brave companions: stern necessitj' compels me to employ the few 
moments afforded by this probably brief cessation of conflict, in making known 
to you the most interesting, yet the most solemn, melancholy and unwelcome 

fact that humanity can realise Our fate is sealed. VV^ithin a very few 

days, perhaps a very few hours, we must all be in eternity I I have deceived you 
long by the promise of help ; but I crave your pardon, hoping that after hearing 
my explanation you will not only regard my conduct as pardonable, but heartily 

sympathi.se with me in my extreme necessity I have continually received 

the strongest assurances of help from home. Every letter from the Council, and 

».\s transinittecl by the /iilier family, whose resideiict «,is the first place at which poor Rose had dared to 
slop, and with whom he remained some weeks, healing the festered wounds made on liis legs l>y the cactns- 
thorns during the days of his fearful journey. The acctmnt from which lhc.se extracts are taken, is contriliulcd 
to the Texas .Almanac for 1S7."1. by W. p. Znltcr, and his mother, Mary .\nii Zuber. 



86 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

ever}- one that I have seen from individuals at home, has teemed with assurances 
that our people were ready, willing and anxious to come to our relief. . . . These 

assurances I received as facts In the honest and simple confidence of my 

heart I have transmitted to j^ou these promises of help and my confident hope of 
success. But the promised help has not come, and our hopes are not to be 
reali,sed. I have evidetitly confided too much in the promises of our friends: but 

let us not be in haste to censure them Our friends were evidently not 

informed of our perilous condition in time to save us. Doubtless they would 
have been here by the time they expected any considerable force of the enemy. 
.... M\- calls on Colonel Fannin remain unanswered, and mj' messengers have 
not returned. The probabilities are that his whole command has fallen into the 
hands of the enemy, or been cut to pieces, and that our couriers have been cut 
off. [So does the brave simple soul refuse to feel any bitterness in the hour of 

death.] .... Then we must die Our business is not to make a fruitless 

effort to save our lives, but to choose the manner of our death. But three modes 
are presented to us ; let us choose that by which we may best ser\^e our country. 
Shall we surrender and be deliberately shot without taking the life of a single 
enemy ? Shall we try to cut our way out through the Mexican ranks and be 
butchered before we can kill twenty of our adversaries ? I am opposed to either 

method Let us resolve to withstand our adversaries to the last, and at 

each advance to kill as many of them as possible. And when at last they shall 
storm our fortress, let us kill them as they come! kill them as they scale our wall! 
kill them as they leap within! kill them as they raise their weapons and as they 
use them! kill them as they kill our companions! and continue to kill them as 
long as one of us shall remain alive! .... But I leave every man to his own 
choice. Should any man prefer to surrender . . . or to attempt an escape . . . 
he is at liberty to do so. My own choice is to stay in the fort and die for my 
country, fighting as long as breath shall remain in my body. This will I do 
even if you leave me alone. Do as you think best ; but no man can die with me 
without affording me comfort in the hour of death ! " 

"Colonel Travis then drew his sword, and with its point traced a line upon 
the ground extending from the right to the left of the file. Then resuming his 
position in front of the center, he said, 'I now want every man who is determined 
to stay here and die with me to come across this line. Who will be the first? 
March ! The first respondent was Tapley Holland, who leaped the line at a 
bound, exclaiming, ' I am ready to die for my country ! ' His example was 
instantly followed by every man in the file with the exception of Rose. . . . Everj- 
sick man that could walk, aro.se from his bunk and tottered across the line. 
Colonel Bowie, who could not leave his bed, said, ' Boj-s, I am not able to come 
to you, but I wish some of you would be so kind as to remove my cot over there.' 
Four men instanth- ran to the cot, and each lifting a corner, carried it across the 
line. Then every sick man that could not walk made the same request, and had 
his bunk removed in the same way. 

" Rose too was deeply affected, but differently from his companions. He 
stood till every man but himself had crossed the line. . . . He sank upon the 
ground, covered his face, and yielded to his own reflections. ... A bright idea 



SIDNEY I.ANIlUrS HISTORICAL SKI'.TCH. 87 

came to his relief ; he spoke the Mexican dialect very fluently, and could he once 
get safely out of the fort, he might easily pass for a Mexican and effect an 
escape. . . . He directed a searching glance at the cot of Colonel Bowie. . . . 
Colonel David Crockett was leaning over the cot, conversing with its occupant in 
an undertone. After a few seconds Bowie looked at Rose and said, ' You seem 
not to be willing to die with us, Rose.' ' No,' said Ro.se ; ' I am not prepared to 
die, and shall not do .so if I can avoid it.' Then Crockett also looked at him, and 
said, ' You may as well conclude to die with us, old man, for escape is impossi- 
ble.' Rose made no reply, but looked at the top of the wall. ' I have often done 
worse than to climb that wall,' thought he. Suiting the action to the thought, 
he sprang up, seized his wallet of unwashed clothes, and ascended the wall. 
Standing on its top, he looked down within to take a last view of his dying 
friends. They were all now in motion, but what they were doing he heeded not; 
overpowered by his feelings, he looked away and saw them no more. . . . He 
threw down his wallet and leaped after it. . . . He took the road which led down 
the River around a bend to the ford, and through the town by the church. He 
waded the river at the ford and passed through the town. He saw no per- 
son .... but the doors were all closed, and San Antonio appeared as a de- 
serted city. 

" After passing through tin.' town he luruL-d dciwn the River. A stillness as of 
death prevailed. When he had gone about a (|uarter of a mile below the town, his 
ears were saluted by the thunder of the bombardment which was then renewed. 
That thunder continued to remind him that his friends were true to their cause, by 
a continual roar with but slight intervals imtil a little before .sunrise on the morning 
of the Uth, when it ceased and he heard it no more." * 

And well may it "cease" on that morning of the (>th ; for after that thrilling 
3d, the siege goes on, the enemy furious, the Texans rejilying calml\- and slowly. 
Finally Santa Anna determines to storm. Some hours before daylight on the 
morning of the 6th. the Mexican infantry, provided with scaling ladders, and 
tracked b}- the cavalry to keep them \ip to the work, surround the doomed fort. At 
daylight they advance and plant their ladders, but give back under a deadly fire 
from the Texans. They advance again, and again retreat, A third time — Santa 
Anna threatening and coaxing b\- turns — they plant their ladders. Now they mount 
the walls. The Texans are ovei whelmed by sheer weight of numl)ers and ex- 
haustion of continued watching and fighting. The Mexicans swarm into the fort. 
The Texans club tlieir guns: one by one they fall fighting — now Travis yonder by 
the western wall, now Crockett here in the angle of the church-wall, now Howie 
butchered and nuitilated in his sick-cot, breathe ([uick and ])assaway; and ])resently 
every Texan lies dead, while tliere in horrid heai)s are stretched five hundred and 
twenty-one dead Mexicans and as many more wounded! Of Iht.' human beings that 
were in the fort five remain alive : Mrs. Dickinson and Iier child, Coloiiel Travis' 
negro-servant, and two Mexican women. 

• Rose succeeded in ni.lkin^ his escape. .Tiid re.iched the lioiLse of tile Ziibers. as l>efore staled, in fearful 
condition. .After remaining liere some weeks, he started for his home in Nacogdoclics, l>ut on the way his 
thorn-wounus became inflamed anew, anct when he reache<l home " his friends ttioughl that he could not live 
many months." This was " the hist " that the iCubers " heard of hiin." 



88 



SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 



The town did not long remain in tlie hands of the Mexicans. Events followed 
each other rapidly until the battle of San Jacinto, after which the dejected Santa 
Anna wrote his famous letter of captivity under the tree, which for a time relieved 
the soil of Texas from hostile footsteps. San .\ntonio was nevertheless not free 
from bloodshed, though beginning to drive a sharp trade with Mexico, and to make 
those approaches towards the peaceful arts which necessarih- accompany trade. 
The Indians kept life from .stag^iating, and in the year l.S4() occurred a bloody battle* 
with them in the very midst of the town. Certain Comanche chiefs, pending nego- 
tiations for a treaty of peace, had promised to bring in all the ca])tives they had; 
and on the 10th of March, 1S40, m>;t the Texan Commissioners in the Council- 
house in San Antonio, to redeem their promise. Eeaving twenty warriors and 
thirtj'-two women and children outside, twelve chiefs entered the council-room and 
presented the only captix'e the\- had lirought — a little white girl — declaring that 
they had no others. This statement the little girl pronounced false, asserting that 
it was made solely for the purpose of extorting greater ransoms, and that she had 
but recently .seen other captives in their camp. An awkward pause followed. 
Presently one of the chiefs inquired. How the commissioners liked it? By way of 




reply, the company of Captain Howard, who had been .sent for, filed into the room, 
and the Indians were told that the}- would be held prisoners initil they should send 
some of their party outside after the rest of the captives. The commissioners then 
rose and left the room. As the}' were in the act of leaving, however, one of the 
Indian chiefs attempted to rush through the door, and being confronted by the sen- 
tinel, .stabbeil him. Seeing the sentinel hurt, and Captain Howard also stabbed, the 
other chiefs sprang forward with kni\-es and bows and arrows, and the fight raged 
until the}- were all killed. Meantime the warriors outside began to fight, and en- 
gaged the company of Captain Read; but, taking shelter in a stone-house, were sur- 
rounded and killed. Still another detachment of the Indians managed to continue 
the fight until thej- had reached the other side of the ri\'er, when they were finally 
despatched. Thirty-two Indian warriors and five Indian women and children were 
slain, and the rest of tlie women and children were made prisoners. The savages 
fought desperateh', for se\-en Te.xans were killed and eight woimded. 

"For uarticulars of this terrible eucouiiter see memoirs of Mrs. M. A. Maverick. — W. C.. Kd. 



vSIDNKY I.ANIIvR'S HISTORICAL SKETCH. 89 

Tlie war between Texas and Mexico had now languished for some years. The 
project of annexation was much discussed in the United States; one great objection 
to it was that the ITnited States would enil)n)il itself with a nation with which it 
was at peace — Mexico — by annexing Texas, then at war. The war, however, 
seemed likeh' to die away; and to prevent the removal of the obstacle to annexation 
in that way, Mexico made feeble efforts to keep up such hostilities as might at least 
give color to the assertion that the war bad not ended. Accordingly in the year 
1842 a Mexican army again invested San Antonio. After a short jiarley Colonel 
Hays withdrew with his .small force, and the Mexicans, numbering about seven 
hundred men under General Vasquez, took po.sse.ssion of the place and formally reor- 
ganized it as a Mexican town. They remained, how-ever, only two days, and con- 
ducted them.selves, officially, with great jM-opriety, though the citizens are .said to 
ha\-e lost a great deal of valuable property by unauthorized depredations of private 
soldiers and of Mexican citizens who accompanied the army on its departure. 

Again on the 11th of vSeptember, 1842, a Mexican army of twelve hundred 
men under Gen. Woll, .sent probably by the same policy which had despatched 
the other, surprised the town of San Antonio, and, after having a few killed and 
wounded, took possession, the citizens having capitulated. Gen. Woll captured 
the entire bar of lawyers in attendance on the District Court, then in session, and 
held them as prisoners of war. He did not escape, however, so easily as Gen. 
\'asquez. The Texans gathered rapidly, and by the 17th had assembled two 
hundred and twenty men on the Salado, some six miles from town. Capt. Ha\s. 
with fifty men, decoyed Gen. Woll forth, and a battle ensued, from which the 
enemy withdrew at sun.set with a loss of sixty killed and about the same number 
wounded, the Texans losing one killed and nine wounded. It is easy to believe 
that the honest citizens of San Antonio got little sleep on that night of the 17lh 
of September, 1.S42. Gen. Woll was busy making preparations for retreat; and 
the Mexican citizens who intended to accompany him were also busy gathering 
up plunder right and left to take with them. At daylight they all departed. 
This was the la.st time that San Antonio de Bexar was ever in Mexican hands. 

After annexation, in 1S4."), the town began to improve. The trade from cer- 
tain portions of Mexico — Chihuahua and the neighboring States — seems always to 
have eagerly sought San Antonio as a point of supplies whenever peace gave it 
the opportunity. Presently, too, the United States Government selected San 
Antonio as the base for the frontier army below El Paso, and the large quanti- 
ties of money expended in connection with the supply and transportation of all 
materiel for so long a line of forts have contributed very materialh- to the pros- 
perity of the town. PVoni a population of about 3.")(HI in IS.'ii). it increased to 
lU.UUU in iSoB.* 

Abandoning now this meagre historical sketch, and pursuing the order indi- 
cated in the enumeration of contrast and eccentricities given in the earl>- jiart of 
this paper ; one finds in San Antonio the queerest juxtaposition of civilisations, 
white, yellow (Mexican), red (Indian), black (negro), and all possible permuta- 

•San Antouio li.is now an isliniaUil |>opnlalion of iiO.OUO.— W. C. \\\>. 



90 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

tions of these significant colors. Americans, Germans, and Mexicans; Ijesides 
these there are probably representatives from all European nationalities.* 

Religious .services are regularly conducted in four languages, German, Span- 
ish, Engji.sh and Polish. 

Perhaps the variety of the population cannot be better illustrated than by the 
following " commodity of good names," occurring in a slip cut from a daih' paper 
of the town a day or two ago : 

Matrimoni.vl. — The matrimouial market for a couple of weeks past has been unusually 
lively, as evidenced b)- the following list of marriage licenses issued during that time : Cruz 
de la Cruz and Manuela Sauseda ; Felipe Sallani and Maria del R. Lopez ; G. Isabolo and 
Rafaela Urvana; Anto. P. Rivas aud Maria Quintana ; Garniel Hernandez and Seferina Rod- 
riguez ; T. B. Leighton and Franceska E. Schmidt ; Rafael Diaz and Michaela Chavez : Levy 
Taylor and Anna Simpson, colored ; Iguacio Andrada and Juliana Baltasar ; August Dubiell 
and Philoinena Muschell ; James Callaghan and Mary Grenet ; Albert Anz and Ida Pollock ; 
Stephen Hoog and Mina Schneider ; Wm. King and Sarah Wilson, colored ; Joseph McCoy 
and Jesse Brown ; Valentine Heck and Clara Hirsch ; John F. Dunn and E. Annie Dunn. ' 

Much interest has attached, of late years, to the climate of San Antonio, in 
consequence of its alleged happy influence ttpon consumption. One of the rec- 
ognized '' institutions " of the town is the consumptives, who are sent here from 
remote parts of the United States and from Europe, and who may be seen on fine 
days, in various stages of decrepitude, strolling about the streets. This present 
writer has the honor to be one of those strolling individuals ; but he does not in- 
tend to attempt to describe the climate, for three reasons : first, because it is sim- 
ply indescribable ; second, if it were not so, his experience has been such as to 
convince him that the needs of consumptives, in point of climate, depend upon 
two variable elements, to wit, the stage which the patient has reached, and the 
]ieculiar temperament of each individual, and that therefore any general recom- 
mendation of any particular climate is often erroneous and sometimes fatally de- 
ceptive : and third, becau.se he forttuiately is able to present some of the facts of 
the climate, which may be relied upon as scientifically accurate, and from the 
proper study of which each intelligent consumptive can make up his mind as to 
the suitableness of the climate to his individual case. For the past five years, 
Dr. F. V. Pettersen, a Swedish physician and ardent lover of science, resident in 

*,Sidney Lauier here says of the old bridge which preceded the present cue : 

"At the Commerce street bridge over the San Antouio River, staudsa post supporting a large sign board, 
upon which appears the following three legends : 

Walk your horse over this bridge, or you will be fined. 
Schnelles Reiten uber diese Briicke ist verboten. 
Auda despacio con su caballo, <5 teme la ley. 

To the the meditative stroller across this bridge — aud on a soft day when the Gulf breeze and the sunshine are 
king and queen, any stranger may be safely defied to cross this bridge zvitlnmt becoming meditative — there is a 
fine satire in the varying tone of these inscriptions — for they are by no means faithful translations of each 
other; a satire all the keener in that it must have been wholly unconscious. For mark; 'Walk your horse, 
etc., or j'ON ~f/7/ fn-Jiftt'tf." This is the American's warning : the alternative is a money cousideraiion, aud the 
appeal is solely to the pocket, lint now the German is simply informed that sclinelU's Reiten over this bridge hi 
verholcn — is Jori'iiUiiii ; as who should say: "So. thou quiet, law-abiding Teuton, enough for thee to know that 
it is forbidden simply.' And lastly, the Mexican direction takes wholly a different turn from either: Slow 
there with ^-our horse, Mexicano, ' o teme la ley,' — or 'fear the lew',' " 

* This refer.s more appropriately to the date of Sidney Lanier's remarks. Since that day there has been an 
increasing influ.x of .Americans. — W. C, Ed. 



SIDNKY LANIKR'S HISTORICAL SKKTCH. 



91 



San Antonio, Ims conducted a scries of meteorological observations with accurate 
apparatus ; and the results which follow have been compiled from his records : 



Seasons of 1 8(58 
18(i!) 
1870 
1871 
1872 



Seasons of 1868 
1869 



Mkan ThERMOMIvTKR. 

Sfirinif. Siiiltiurr. 

1 4.'>'> <S4.'*o 

(iii.4:] s;!.]0 

6S.70 88.43 

71.28 87.4.-) 

70.58 KU>\ 



Mean Hygrometer. 



1870 
1871 
1872 



For the j-ear 18(),S 
18(i9 
1870 
1871 
1872 



65* 

(12 

60 

64 

64 



78 



71; 



Anttiinn. 

71.;!8 
67.5;5 
70.66 

68.;is 
6.s,9(; 



64 
(•>2 
(55 

lil 



Whilir. 

54.66 
52.93 
51 .30 
54.. -U 

49.75 



49 
49 
46 
50 

k; 



Total Rain-kai.l. 



46.60 inches. 

49.03 

35.12 

24.. S6 

.■!l.r,2 



These are averages, but the view which thej' present of the climate, although 
strictly accurate as far as it goes, is by no mear.s complete 

San Antonio is at an altitude of 564 feet above the le\-el of the sea, in latitude 
29 ° 28', longitude 9,S ° 24'. It is placed just in the edge of a belt of country one 
hundred and fifty miles wide, reaching to the Rio Grande, and principally de- 
voted to cattle-raising Inside, the location of the.citj' is picturesque. Two 

streams, the San Antonio and San Pedro rivers, run in a direction generally par- 
allel, though specially as far from parallelism as capricious crookedness can make 
itself, through the entire town. The San Antonio is about sixty feet wide; its 
water is usually of a lovely milky-green. The stranger, strolling on a mild sunny 
day through the streets, often finds himself suddenly on a bridge, and is half start- 
led with the winding vista of sweet lawns running down to the water, of weeping 
willows kissing its surface, of summer houses on its banks, and of the swift yet 
smooth-shining stream meandering this way and that, actuallj' combing the long 
sea-green locks of a trailing water-grass which sends its waving tresses down the 
centre of the current for hundreds of feet, and murmuring the while with a palpa- 
ble Spanish lisping, which floats up among the rude noises of traffic along the 
street, as it were some dove-voiced Spanish nun out of the convent 
yonder praying heaven's mitigation of the wild battle of trade. Leaving this 
bridge, walking down the main (Commerce) street, acrcss the Main plaza, then 
past the San Fernando Cathedral, then across the Military Plaza, one come pres- 
ently to the San Pedro, a small stream ten or fifteen feet in width, up which the 



Fractions omitted. 



92 SAN ANTONIO DE BKXAR. 

gazing stroller finds no romance, l)Ut mostly strict use; for there sqnat the Mexican 
women on their haunches, by their flat stones, washing the famil}- garments, in a 
position the very recollection of which gives one simultaneous stitches of lumbago 
and sciatica, yet which they appear to maintain for hours without detriment. . . . 

Crossing the San Pedro we are among the Jacals more pretentious 

dwellings are built oi adobes, or sun-dried brick. The majority of the substantial 
houses of the town are constructed of a whitish limestone, so soft when first quar- 
ried that it can be cut with a knife, but quickly hardening by exposure into a 
very durable building material. In the more pretentious two-storied dwellings 
there are some very good Moorish effects of projecting stone and lattice-work. 

A fine architectural example in the town is the San Fernando Cathedral, 
which presents a broad, varied and imposing faijade upon the western side of the 

Main Plaza The curious dome, surrounded by a high wall over which 

its topmost slit-windows just peer — an evident relic of ancient Moorish archi- 
tecture, which one finds in the rear of most of the old Spanish religious edifices 
in Texas — has been preserved, and still adjoins the queer priests' dormitories, 
which constitute the rear end of the cathedral building. 

There are other notable religious edifices in town. Going back to Com- 
merce Street, one can see a fine large church for the German Catholics (San 
Fernando Cathedral is Mexican Catholic). Cro.ssing a graceful iron bridge, that 
turns off to the north from Commerce Street, one glances up and down the stream, 
which here flows between heavy and costly abutments of stone to protect the rear 
of the large stores whose fronts are on the Main Street, and whose rear doors 
open almost immediately over the water. Across the bridge in this odd nook of 
the stream is St. Marj^'s, the American Catholic Church, its rear adjoining a long 
three-storied stone convent building, and its yard .sloping down to the water. 
Strolling up the river a ([uarter of a mile, one comes upon a long white stone 
building, which has evidently bad much trouble to accommodate itself to the site 
upon which it is built, and whose line is broken into four or five abrupt angles, 
while its roof is varied with dormer windows and sharp projections and sjiires and 
(juaint clock-faces, and its rear is m)-sterious with lattice-covered balconies and 
half-hidden corners and corridors. This is the Ursuline Convent; and standing as 
it does on a rocky and steep (steep for Texas plains) bank of the river, whose 
course its broken line follows, and down to which its long stern-looking wall 
descends, it is an edifice at once piquant and sombre, and one cannot resist figuring 
Mr. James' horseman spurring his charger up the white limestone road that winds 
alongside the wall, in the early twilight, when dreams come whispering down the 
current among the willow-sprays. 

There are notable places about the town which the stranger must visit. He 
may ride two miles along a level road between market gardens which are vital- 
ised by a long accquia. or ditch, fed from the river, and come presently upon the 
quaint graj' towers of the old Mission Concepcion.* The old church, with its high- 
walled dome in the rear, is in a good state of preservation, and traces of the sin- 
gular many-colored fre.scoingon its front are still plainly visible. Climbing a very 

•'The Mission of Our I.adyofthe Coiirrpcioii d,' Atiiiia. 



SIDNEY LANIIvR'S HLSTORICAL SKETCH. 93 

shaky ladder, one gets upon the roof of a long stone corridor running off from the 
church building, and, taking good heed of the sharp-thorned cactus which 
abounds up there, looks over upon a quaint complication of wall-angles, nooks, 
and small-windowed rooms 

Further down the river a couple of miles one comes to the Mission San fose 
dc Aguayo. This is more elaborate and on a larger scale than the buildings of 
the first Mission, and is still very beautiful. Religious services are regularly con- 
ducted here; and one can do worse things than to steal out here from town on 
some wonderfully calm Sunday morning, and hear a mass, and dream back the 
century and a half of strange, lonesome, devout, hymn-haunted and Indian- 
haunted years that have trailed past these walls. Five or six miles further down 
the river are the ruins of the Mission San Juan in much dilapidation. 

Or the visitor may stroll off to the eastward, climb the hill, wander about 
among the graves of heroes in the large cemetery on the crest of the ridge, and 
please himself with the noble reaches of country east and west, and with the 
perfect view of the city, which from here seems " sown," like Tennyson's, "in a 
monstrous wrinkle of the" prairie. Or, being in search of lions, one may see the 
actual animal, by a stroll to the "San Pedro Springs Park," a mile or so to the 
northward. Here, from under a white-ledged rocky hill, burst forth three crystal- 
line springs, which quickly unite and form the San Pedro. With spreading 
water-oaks, rustic pleasure buildings, promenades along smooth shaded avenues 
between concentric artificial lakes, a race-course, an aviary, a fine Mexican lion, a 
bear-pit in which are an emerald-eyed blind cinnamon bear, a large black bear, a 
wolf and a coyote, and other attractions, this is a ver>' green spot indeed in the 
prairies. Or one may drive three miles to northward and see the romantic spot 
where the San Antonio River is forever being born, leaping forth from the moun- 
tain, complete, totus, even as Miner\-a from the head of Jove. Or one may take 
one's stand on the Commerce Street bridge and involve oneself in the life that goes 
by this way and that. Yonder comes a long train of enonnous blue-bodied, can- 
vas-covered wagons, built high and square in the stern, much like a fleet of Dutch 
galleons, and lumbering in a ponderous wa\- that suggests cargoes of silver and 
gold. These are drawn by fourteen mules each, who are harnessed in four tiers, 
the three front tiers of four mules each, and that next the wagon of two. The 
' ' lead ' ' mules are wee fellows, veritalile mulekins ; the next tier larger, and so on 
to the two wheel-mules, who are alwa>-s as large as can be procured. Yonder 
fares slowly another train of wagons, drawn by great wide-homed oxen, whose 
evident tendency to run to hump and fore-shoulder irresistibly persuades one of 
their cousinship to the buffalo. 

Here, now, comes somewhat that shows as if Birnam Wood had been cut into 
fagots and was advancing with tipsy swagger upon Dunsinane. Presently, one's 
gazing eye receives a sensation of hair, then of enormous ears, and then the legs 
appear, of the little roan-gray burros, or asses, upon whose backs that Mexican 
walking behind has managed to pile a mass of mesquite firewood that is simply 
astonishing. This mesquite is a species of acacia, whose roots and body form the 
principal fuel here. It yields, by exudation, a gum which is quite equal to gum 
arabic, when the tannin in it is extracted. It appears to have spread over this 



94 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

portion of Texas within the last twenty-five ,vears, perhaps less time. The old 
settlers account for its appearance by the theory that the Indians — and after them 
the stock-raisers — were formerly in the habit of burning off the prairie-grass 
annually, and that these great fires rendered it impossible for the mesquite shrub 
to obtain a foothold ; but that now the departure of the Indians and the transfer 
of most of the large cattle-raising business to points further westward, have 
resulted in leaving the soil free for the occupation of the mesquite. It has 
certainly taken advantage of the opportunity. It covers the prairie thickly, in 
many directions as far as the eye can reach, growing to a pretty uniform height of 
four or five feet — though occasionally much larger — and presenting with its tough 
branches and innumerable formidable thorns, a singular appearance. The wood 
when dry is exceedingly hard and durable, and of a rich mahogany color. This 
recent overspread ot foliage on the plains is supposed by many persons to be the 
cause of the quite remarkable increase of moisture in the climate of San Antonio 
which has been observed of late years. The phenomena — of the coincident 
increase of moisture and of mesquite — are unquestionable : but whether they bear 
the relation of cause and effect, is a question upon which the unscientific lingerers 
on this bridge may be pennitted to hold themselves in reserve 

And now as we leave the bridge in the gathering twilight and loiter down 
the street, we pass all manner of odd personages and "characters." Here ■ 
hobbles an old Mexican who looks like old Father Time in reduced circumstances, 
his feet, his body, his head all swathed in rags, his face a blur of wrinkles, his 
beard gray-grizzled — a picture of eld such as one will rarely find. There goes a 
little German boy who was captured a 3'ear or two ago b}' Indians within three 
miles of San Antonio, and has just been retaken and sent home a few days ago.* 
Do you see that poor Mexican without any hands ? A few months ago a wagon- 
train was captured by Indians at Howard's Wells ; the teamsters, of whom he 
was one, were tied to the wagons and these set on fire, and this poor fellow was 
released by the flames burning off his hands, the rest all perishing save two. 
Here is a great Indian-fighter who will show you what he calls his " vouchers," 
being scalps of the red braves he has slain ; there a gentleman who blew up his 
store here in '42 to keep the incoming Mexicans from benefiting by his goods, and 
who afterwards spent a weary imprisonment in that stern castle of Perote awaj^ 
down in Mexico, where the Mier prisoners (and who ever thinks nowadays of that 
strange, bloody Mier Expedition ?) were confined ; there a portly, handsome, 
buccaneer-looking captain who led the Texans against Cortinas in 'oil ; there a 
small, intelligent-looking gentleman who at twenty was first Secretary of 'War of 
the young Texan Republic, and who is said to know the history of everything 
that has been done in Texas from that time to this, minutely ; and .so on through 
a perfect gauntlet of people who have odd histories, odd natures or odd appear- 
ances, we reach our hotel Sidney Lanier. 

*T1us was written of ISV:).— W. C, En. 



Interviews and Memoirs of Old Time Texans. 



Extracts from the Memoirs of Mrs. M. A. Maverick. 

We have been pcnnitted by the kindness of tlie I'aniily to examine this 
remarkable document, — "This little family history necessarily private," as it is 
modestly described in the jireface. 

In reality the Record is a portion of the annals of Texas, and from the early 
days of trial and difficnlly it reads us besides, a latter-day lesson of courage, pati- 
ence and fortitude. 

From the point of view of the historical trifler, the feelin,t; that impresses one, 
on laying down the manuscript after scanning all its lines, is as though one had 
stumbled upon the diary of a nol>le Roman matron of the days ot Regulus. 

The few extracts and running comments which follow will give an idea of 
the story — A tale not told in heroics, but which simply worded, never falls short 
of heroism, and which, in the unaffected courage, and affecting piety of its writer 
is probablj' unique. 

Samuel Augustus Maverick was born Julv 23, 1803, at Pendleton, South Car- 
olina of distinguished revolutionary stock of luiglish and Huguenot extraction. 
Mrs. Maverick w^as an Adams — the Ma.ssachusetts famil\- transplanted to Virginia 
and intermarried with a Lewis of that state. 

Mrs. Maverick was married August 4th. 1.S36, near Tu.scaloosa, Alabama, her 
mother's home. The family started for Texas October 14th, IS."!?; Mr. Sam Mav- 
erick being then a baby of five months. Mr, Maverick senior, had been in Texas 
in 1835, and his friends thought him killed in the Alamo fight. As a record of 
old time travelling, and to illustrate the up-building of the Southwest, their 
progress to the Lone Star State is of interest in the.se days of Pullman sleepers; 
Mrs. Maverick .says: "Father accompanied us half a day. . . . We traveled 
in a carriage, Mr. Maverick driving and nurse Rachel and baby and myself the 
other occupants. In a wagon with Wiley as driver, was Jinny our future cook 
and her four children. We reached mother's, (Tuscaloosa, Alabama, from Pendle- 
ton, South Carolina) about the last of October, and stopped with her about six 

months making final preparations December 7th, 1.S37, we set out 

for Texas. . . . Our part\- was composed of four whites and ten negroes. 
The negroes were four men Griffin, Granville. Wiley and Uncle Jim — two women 
Jinny and Rachel, and Jinny's four chiUlren We had a large car- 
riage, a big Kentucky wagon, three extra saddle horses and one blooded filly. 
The wagon carried a tent, a supply of provisions and bedding, and the cook and 
children. . We occasionally stopped several days in a good place to rest 
and to have washing done, and sometimes to give muddy roads time to dry. We 



96 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

crossed the Mississippi at Rodney, and Red river at Alexandria, and came through 
bottoms in Louisiana where the high-water marks in the trees stood far above our 
carriage-top, but the roads were good there when we passed. We crossed the 
Sabine, a sluggish, muddy, narrow stream, and stood upon the soil of the Republic 
of Texas about New Year's day 1838. 

"January 7th, 1838, we occupied an empty cabin in San Augustine, while the 
carriage wheel was being repaired. This was a poor little village principally of 
log cabins, on one street, but the location was high and dry. We laid in a supply 
of corn and groceries here and pushed on through Nacogdoches, to the place of 
Colonel Durst, an old acquaintance of Mr. Maverick. . . . There we met 
General Rusk. . . . We now had to travel in occasional rains and much 
mud, where the country was poor and sparsely settled and provisions for mau and 
beast scarce. We, on advice, selected the longest but the best road, namely, the 
one leading by the way of Washington, high up on the Brazos. From Washing- 
ton we went to Columbus on the Colorado, and thence about due south towards 
the Lavaca River. Now came a dreadful time. About January 26th we entered 
a bleak, desolate, swampy prairie, cut up by what are called dry bayous, and now 
almost full of water. This swamp, covered by the " Sandy," Mustang and head 
branches of the Navidad, was fourteen miles wide. . . . Every step the 
animals took was in water. We " stalled " in five or six of the gullies and each 
time the wagon had to be unloaded in wind, water and rain, and all the men and 
animals had to work together to pull out. The first " norther " struck us here, a 
terrific, howling north wind with fine rain, blowing and penetrating through 
clothes and blankets. I never before experienced such cold. We were four days 
crossing this fourteen miles of dreadful swamp. The first day we made three 
miles and that night my mattress floated in water. No one suffered from the 
exposure, and Mr. Maverick kept cheerful all the while. Our provisions were 
almost gone when, on the 80th, we crossed the Navidad, stopping at Spring Hill, 
Major Sutherland's place. Mr. Maverick now went on to see if it was safe to take 
us to San Antonio, and visited other points with a view to .settling, especially 
Matagorda, where he owned land. 

"At Major Sutherland's boarded Captain Sylvester, from Ohio, who had 
captured Santa Anna after the battle of San Jacinto. I attended a San Jacinto 
ball at Texana on April 21st. Here, too, I met old 'Bowles,' the Cherokee 
chief, with twelve or thirteen of his tribe. 

"After tea we were dancing when Bowles came in dressed in a breech cloth, 
anklets, moccasins and feathers and a long clean white linen shirt which had been 
presented to him in Houston. He .said the pretty ladies in Houston had danced 
with, kissed him and given him rings. We, however, begged to Ijc excused, and 
even requested him to retire. . . . He .stalked out in high dudgeon, and our 
dance broke up. Bowles told us of President Houston li\-ing in his Natioii, and 
that he had given Houston his daughter for a .squaw, and had made him a big 
chief. 

"June 2nd we set off for San Antonio de Bexar, in those days frequently 

simply called Bexar June 12th, late in the afternoon, we reached camp 

again, and were loading up to move two or three miles further to a l)etter cam])- 



MICMOIR.S ()!•• MRvS. M. A. M.WlvRICK. 97 

iiig i)lace, when several Iiu'.ians rode uj). They said ' niuclio ainis:o,' and were 
loud and filthy and manifested their intention to he very intimate. More and 
more came, until we counted seventeen of them. They rode in amoni(st us, 
looked greedily at the horses, and without exa^Keration annoyed us very nnich. 
They were Tonkawas and kept repeating ' nuicho amigo,' telling us further that 
they were just from the Nueces, where they had fought the Comanches two days 
previously and gained a victory. They were in war-paint and well armed and 
displayed in triumph two scalps, one hand and several pieces of i)utrid flesh from 
various parts of the human body. Tlie.se were to be taken to the tril)e, when a 
war-dance would ensue over the trophies, and they and their sipiaws would 
devour the flesh. I was frightened almost to death, but tried not to show my 
alarm. They rode up to the carriage window and asked to see the ' Papoose.' 
I held up the bab\- and smiled at their compliments, but took care to have mj' 

pistol and bowie knife visible and kept cool I kept telling Griffin to hurry 

the others, and Mr. Maverick worked cool>' with the rest. Jinny said, ' Let's 
cook .some supper first,' and grumbled mightily when Griffin* ordered her into 
the wagon and drove off. Imagine our consternation when the Indians turned 
back and every one of the seventeen followed us. It was a bright moonlight 
night and finally the Indians, finding us unsociable and dangerous, gradually 
dropped behind." 

On June loth, l.s.'SS, the travellers reached San Antonio, having left home 
October 14th of the previous year. While Mrs. Maverick was at Spring Hill, 
Mr. Maverick made one journey l:)ack to jnirchase household effects in New 
Orleans. 

Mrs. Maverick goes on to descrilie the San Antonio of the period and gives 
a charming picture of the society of the little coterie of Americans then living 
here. 

" Early in Februarj' 1S39, we moved into our own house at the Northeast cor- 
ner of Main and Soledad streets. This hou.se remained our homestead until July 
1849 — over ten 3'ears — altho' five of the ten years, those from '42 to '47 we wand- 
ered about as refugees '' Let Mrs. Maverick describe a San Antonio 

home of the better class at that period "The main hou.se was of 

stone, and had three rooms, one fronting South on Main street and West on Sole- 
dad street, and the other two fronting West on Soledad; also a shed along the 
East wall of the house toward the north end. This shed we closed in with an 
adobe wall, and divided it into a kitchen and servants' room. We also huilt an 
adobe room for the servants on Soledad street, leaving a gateway between it and 
the main house, and we built a stable near the river. We put a strong picket fence 
around the garden to the North, and fenced the garden off from the yard. In the 
garden were sixteen large fig trees, and many rows of pomegranates. In the 
yard were several china trees, and on the river bank, just below our line on 
the De la Zerda premi.ses, was a grand old cypress which we could touch through 
our fence, and its roots made ridges in our yard. It made a great shade, and we 

♦This Griffin was a faithful slave, who a ft tr Mr. Mavcnck'scapttireatSaii .\iitoiiio, in IK-fJ. dctcnniufd to follow 
his master into Mexico to serve him as he best micht. lie was kilted fighting bravely with I>awson's com- 
mand in the beginningof the journey. Mr. Maverick often remarked: " We owe GriRiu a niunument," 



98 SAN ANTONIO DK BKXAR. 

erected our bath-house and wash place under its spreading branches. Our neigh- 
bors were the De la Zerdas. In 1S4() their place was leased to a Greek, Roque 
Catahii, who kept a shop on the street and lived in the back rooms. He marrried 
a pretty bright-eyed, laughing Mexican girl of fourteen years. He dre.ssed her 
in jewelry and fine clothes and bought her a dilapidated piano. He was jealous 
and wished her to amuse herself at home. The piano had the desired effect, and 
she enjoyed it like a child with a new trumpet. The fame of her piano went 
through the town, and after tea, crowds would come to witness her performance.'' 

"Our neighbors on the north were Doiia Juana \'arcinez and her son 
Leonicio. She sold us milk at 2-") cents per gallon, pumpkins at 25 cents each, and 
spring chicken at 12yi cents each. Butter was oO cents ^ lb. When we returned 
from the coast in '47, she had sold her place to Sara S. Smith. (The Court House 
stands there now, and the son, Thad. Smith, is there too as Count}' Clerk). My son 
Lewis Antonio, was born at this house of ours, and, until quite recently, I was of 
the opinion that he was the first child of pure American stock born in San Antonio. 
But now I understand that a Mr. Brown came here with his wife in 1.S2S from 
East Texas, and during that year a son was born to them. That son, John 
Brown, is said to be now a citizen of Waco 

''This summer (1S39) M. B. Jaques brought his wife and two little girls and 
and settled on Commerce Street. Al.so Mr. Elliott came with his wife and two 
children and bought a place on Soledad street, opposite the north end of our 
garden. * 

.... "Mr. Maverick was a member of tlie \'olunteer Company of 'Minute 
Men,' commanded l)y the celebrated Jack Hays, an honored citizen of Cali- 
fornia. He came to Texas at the age of eighteen and was appointed a deput}' 
sur\'e>-or. The surve\-ing parties frequently had ' brushes ' with the Indians and 
on the.se occasions Jack Hays displaj-ed marked coolness and militar}- skill, and 
.soon became by unanimous con.sent the leader in all encounters with the Indians. 
There were from fifty to seventy-five young Americans in San Antonio, at this 
time, attracted by the clinuite, the novelty or by the all-absorbing spirit of land 
speculation. They came from every one of the United States. Many had engaged 
in the .short and bloody struggle of '3') and '36 for the freedom of Texas. Some 
pos.ses.sed means and others were carving out their own fortunes ; all were filled 
with the spirit of adventure and daring and more or less stanii)ed with the weird 
wildness of the half-known W'e.st. 

"They were a noble set of ' boj'S,' as they styled one another, and were ever 

ready to take horse and follow Hays to the Indian strongholds They 

accomplished wonders, for in a few years they crushed the Comanche Nation and 
the country around vSan Antonio became habitable. 

" The signals for their expeditions were the ringing of the Cathedral bell and 
the hoisting the flag of the Republic in front of the Court House." 

Mrs. Maverick tells of many depredations by Mexicans and Indians, showing 
the insecurity of the place even up to the very walls of San Antonio. 

* Mr. Thomas Higgiuhothain. a cari)enler ami his wife, took the house opposite us ou the corner of 
Commerce Street autl Maiu Plaza, where the Danenhaiier buiUliugnow stands. 



MEMOIRS OI* MRS. M. A. MA\'KRICK. 99 

"This year (1839) our iifsro men plowed and planted one labor above the 
Alamo, and were attacked by Indians. Oriflin and Wiley ran into the River and 
saved tliemseh-es. The Indians cut the traces and took off tlie work horses. We 
did not farm again." 

Here is a riding party of the period : — 

" In November, IS.'JU, a parly of ladies and gentlemen came fnun Houston to 
visit San Antonio. They rode on horseback. The ladies were Miss Trask, of 
Boston, Mass., and Miss Evans, daughter of Judge Evans, of Texas. The gentle- 
men were Judge Evans and Col. J. W. Darcey, .Secretary of War of the Republic 
of Texas. Ladies and all were armed with pi.stols and bowie knives. I rode with 
this party and some others around the Head of the San Antonio River. W^e gal- 
loped up the West side and pau.sed at and al)ove the Springs long enough to admire 
the lovely valley of the San Antonio. The leaves were almost all fallen from the 
trees, leaving the view open to the Missions below town. The day was clear, cool 
and bright, and we could see as far as San Juan Capistrano, seven miles below 
town. We galloped home down the east side, and doubted not that the Indians 
watched us from the heavy timber of the River bottom. 

■' In the fall of ISoi) or '40, eighteen dead bodies were brouglit in from the 
edge of town and laid out in the Court House. The\- were the remains <jf a party 
who had been surpri.sed and cut off while out riding, a Mr. Campbell alone 
escaping by the fleetness of his horse. The bodies had been found naked, hacked 
with tomahawks and partly eaten by wohes. The following day the nine Ameri- 
cans were buried in one large gra\-e west of the San Pedro, outside of the Catholic 
burj-ing ground, and verj- near its southwest corner. The nine Mexicans were 
buried inside the gpraveyard. ...... 

"Indians being so numerous and ' bad ' makes agricultural ])roduce dear. 
Farming reminds one of the difficulties of the Jews on their return from the captivity 
or the first jilantiugs of the Pilgrim Fathers. Corn selling from two to three dollars a 
bushel . ' ' 

Mrs. Maverick was an eye witness of the terrible hand to hand conflict with 
the Comanche braves in 1840. Tlie fight was nothing less than Homeric. We 
give it in her own words : "On Tuesday, March 19th, 1840, (dia de San Jo.se) 
sixty-five Comanches came into the town to make a treaty. They brought with 
them, and reluctantly gave up, Matilda Lockhart, whom they had captured with 
her younger sister, in December, 1838, after killing two others of the family. The 
Indian chiefs and men proceeded to the Court House where they met the city and 
military authorities. The jail then occupied the corner fonned by the east line of 
Main Plaza and the north line of Calabosa (now Market) street, and the Court 
House was north of and adjoining tlie jail. The Court House yard, back of the 
Court House, was what is now the City Market on Market street.* The 
Court House and Jail were of stone, one .stor>-, flat roofed and floored with dirt. 
Captain Tom Howard's Company was at first in the Court House yard. The 
Indian women and boys came in there too and remained during the powwow. 

* See maps. 



100 SAX ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

" The 3'oung Indians amused themselves shooting arrows at pieces of money 
put up by some of the Americans. 

" I adjourned over to Mrs. Higginbotham's, whose place adjoined the Court 
Hou.se 3-ard, and we watched the young savages through the picket fence. 

' ' This was the third time the Indians had come for a talk, pretending to seek 
peace and trying to get ransom money for their American and Mexican captives. 
Their present proposition was that they sliould be paid an enonuous price for 
Matilda Lockhart and a Mexican they had just gi\-en up, and that traders be sent 
with paint, powder, flannel, blankets and such other articles as they .shoidd name 
to ransom the other captives. This course had been adopted once before, and when 
the traders reached the Indian camp the smallpox broke out amongst them, and 
they killed the traders, alleging that they had introduced the disease to kill off the 
Indians. After the .slaughter they retained both the captives and the goods. Now, 
the Americans, mindful of the treachery and duplicit\- of the Indians, answered as 
follows : 

" ' We will, according to a former agreement, keep four or five of your chiefs 
and the others of you shall go to your Nation and bring all the captives here, and 
then we will pay all you ask for them. Meanwhile, the chiefs we hold we will 
treat as brothers, and not one hair of their heads shall be injured. This we have 
determined upon, and if 3'ou resist our .soldiers will shoot 5'ou down.' 

" The above ultimatum being interpreted, the Comanches, instautlj', and as 
one man, raised a terrific war-whoop, drew their bows and arrows and com- 
menced firing with deadly effect, at the same time endeavoring to break out of the 
Council Hall. The order, ' Fire ! ' was given by Capt. Howard and the soldiers 
fired into the midst of the crowd. The first volley killed several Indians and two 
of our own people. Soon, all rushed out into the public square, the civilians to 
procure arms, the Indians to escape and the soldiers in close pursuit. The Indians 
generally struck out for the River. Some fled southeast towards Bowen's Bend, 
some ran east on Commerce street and some north on Soledad. Soldiers and citi- 
zens pursued and overtook them at all points: Some were shot in the River and 
some in the streets. Several hand-to-hand encounters took place, and some 
Indians took refuge in stone houses and closed the doors. Not one of the sixty-five 
Indians escaped ; thirtj'-three were killed and thirty-two taken prisoners. 

" Six Americans and one Mexican were killed and ten Americans wounded. 
Our killed were Julian Hood the Sheriff, Judge Thompson an attorne}- from 
South Carolina, G. W. Cayce, from the Brazos, and one oflScer and two soldiers 
and one Mexican whose names I did not learn. Those .severely wounded were 
lyieutenant Thompson brother of the Judge, Captain Tom Howard, Captain Mat. 
Caldwell a citizen volunteer from Gonzales, Judge Robinson, Mr. Morgan Deputj- 
Sheriff, Mr. Higginbotham and two soldiers. vSome others were .slightly wounded. 

"When the deafening war-whoop sounded in the Court Room, it was so loud 
and shrill, so sudden and inexpressiblj- horrible, that we women, looking through 
the fence cracks, for a moment could not comprehend its purport. The Indian 
boys, however, instantlj- recognized its meaning, and turning their arrows upon 
Judge Robinson and other gentlemen standing nearb\-, slew the Judge on the spot. 



MEMOIRS OF MRS. M. A. ^rAVKRICK. 101 

We fled precipitately, Mrs. Higginbothani iiitu her Iidusl- and I across the street to 
my Commerce .street door. Two Indians rushed by me on Commerce .street and 
another reached my door, and turned to push it, just as I slannned it to and beat 
down the heavy bar. I rushed into the house and in the north room found my 
husband and my brother Andrew sitting cahnly at a table inspecting some plats of 
surveys. The\' had heard nothing ! I soon gave them the alarm, and hurried by to 
look after my boys. Mr. Maverick and Andrew seized their arms. Mr. Maverick 
ru.shed into the street and Andrew into the back 3-ard where I was, now shouting 
at the top of my voice, ' Here are Indians ! Here are Indians ! ' Three Indians 
had gotten in through the gate on Soledad street and were making towards the 
River. One had stopped near Jinny Anderson, our cook, who stood bravely in 
front of the children, mine and hers. She held a great stone in her hands, lifted 
above her head, and I heard her cry out to the Indians : ' G'way from heah, or 
I'll ina.sh your head with this rock ! ' The Indian seemed regretful that he hadn't 
time to dispatch Jinny and her brood ; but his time was short, and. pausing but a 
moment, he turned and rushed down the bank, jumped into the River and .struck 
out for the opposite shore. As the Indian hurried down the bank my brother ran 
out in answer to my loud calls. While the Indian was swimming, Andrew drew 
his unerring bead on him. Another Indian was climbing the opposite bank 
and was about to escape, but Andrew brought him down also. Then Andrew 
rushed uj) Soledad street looking for more Indians. 

" I hou.sed my little ones and then looked out of the Soledad street door. 
Near by was .stretched an Indian wounded and dying. A large man, an employe 
of Mr. Higginl)otham, came up just then and aimed a pistol at the Indian's head. 
I called out, ' Oh, don't : he is dying ! ' and the big American laughed and said, 
'Well, to please you I won't ; but it would put him out of his mi.ser}'.' Then I 
saw two others lying dead near by. 

" Captain Lysander Wells, about this lime, passed by riding north on Soledad 
street. He was mounted on a gail>- caparisoned Mexican horse, with silver- 
moiuited saddle and bridle, which outfit he had secured to take back to his native 
State on a visit to his mother. As he reached the X'erameiidi house, an Indian 
who had escajied detection, rushed out from his hiding place, and jumping upon 
the horse behind Wells, clasi)ed his arms and tried to catch hold of the bridle reins. 
The two men .struggled .some time, bent back and forwards and .swayed from side 
to side, until at last. Wells managed to hold the Indian's arms with his right hand 
and with his left to draw his pistol from the holster. He turned partly round, 
placed the pistol against the Indian's body and fired, — a moment more and the 
Indian rolled off and dropjied dead to the ground. Wells put spurs to his horse 
and did good service in the pursuit. 

" I had l>ecome so fa.scinated by this struggle that I had unconsciously gone 
into the middle of the .street, when Lieutenant Chevalier, who was pa.ssing, called 
out to me : ' Are you crazy ? Go in or you will be killed ? ' I obeyed : but my 
curiosity and anxiety again got the better of me, and I peeped out on Commerce 
street where I saw the dead bodies of four or five Indians. ... It was dark 
when Mr. Maverick and Andrew returned. .... 



10-2 SAN ANTONIO UE BEXAR. 

" Several incidents occurred soon after the fight of the liHli which are worth 
narrating. On March 28th, 250 or .'JOD Conianches under a dashing young chief, 
Isimanica, came close to the edge of the town, where the main body halted, while 
Chief Isimanica and another warrior rode daringly into the Public Square and 
circled around the Plaza, then rode some distance down Commerce street and back, 
shouting all the while, offering to fight, and heaping abuse and insults on the 
Americans. Isimanica was in full war-paint and almost naked, He stopped quite 
a while in front of Bluck's saloon, on the northeast corner of the square. He 
shouted defiance, rose in his stirrups, shook his clenched fist, raved, and foamed at 
the mouth. 

" The citizens, through an interpreter, told him that the soldiers were all 
down at the Mission San Jose de Aguayo, and that if he went there Colonel Fisher 
would give him fight enough. 

' ' Isimanica took his braves to San Jose, and with fearless daring bantered the 
.soldiers for a fight. Colonel Fisher was sick in bed and Captain Redd, the next in 
rank, w^as in command. He said to the chief: ' We have made a twelve days' 
truce with your people, in order to exchange prisoners. Mj- country's honor is 
pledged, as well as my own, to keep the truce, and I will not break it. Remain 
here three days, or return in three days, and the truce will be over. We burn to 
fight you.' Isimanica called him 'liar,' 'coward,' and other opprobrious 
names, and hung around for some time ; but: at la.st, the Indians left and did not 
return. Captain Redd remained calm and unmoved throughout this stormy talk, 
but his men could with difficult)- be restrained ; and, in fact, some of them were 
ordered into the Mission church and guarded there. 

"When Captain Lysander Wells, who was in town, heard of all this, he wrote 
Captain Redd a letter, in which he called him a ' dastardly coward,' and alluded 
to a certain petticoat govenmient, under which he intimated the Captain was 
restrained. This allusion had reference to a young woman who, dres.sed in boy's 
apparel, had followed Redd from Georgia and was now living with him. This 
letter of Wells was signed, much to their shame, by several others in San Antonio. 

"Colonel Fisher removed his entire force of three companies to the Alamo in 
San Antonio. Redd challenged Wells to mortal combat, and one morning at 6 
o'clock they met where the Ur.suline Convent now stands. Facing his antagonist, 
Redd coolly remarked: ' I aim for your heart ' ; and Wells replied: 'And I for 
your brains.' They fired! Redd sprang into the air, and fell dead with a bullet 
in his brain. Wells, too, in fulfillment of their fearful repartee, was shot very near 
the heart ; he, however, li\-ed a fortnight in great agony, begging e\-ery one near 
him to despatch him or furnish hiiu with a pistol to kill himself. Dr. Weidemann, of 
whom more anon, nur.sed him tenderly. It turned out that the girl before referred 
to w'as married to Redd, and they found the marriage licen.se and certificate in his 
pocket : also letters to members of his own and her families, speaking of her in the 
tenderest manner and asking them to protect and provide for her. She followed 
him to the grave and seemed heart-broken, and soon thereafter returned to her 
people." .... 



MI'MOIRS OF MRvS. M. A. MAVI'IKICK. 1(« 

Mrs. Maverick oi\-u.s terrible accounts of the fearful treatment of captives Ijv the 
Indians, and her narrative is another warrant fi)r the belief that the only "good 
Indian is a dead one." 

" Matilda Lockhart, who came in on March I'.'th, had Ix-en in captivity about 
two \ears. When she was taken, two of her family were slain and she and her 
little sister were taken ])risoners. At that time .she was thirteen and her sister 
three years old. .She came along with the Indian party as a herder driving a herd 
of extra horses — thus the Indians could change horses from time to time for 

fresher ones She was in a frightful condition, poor girl Her head, 

arms and face were full of brui.ses and sores, and her nose actually burned off to 
the bone. 

"Marcli '-liitli. .Mrs. Webster came in with her three-\ear-okl child on her back. 
The poor, miserable being was so unlike a while woman that the Mexicans hailed 
her as ' Indio ! Indio I ' She came into the Public Square from the west and 
was dre.s.sed as an Indian, in buckskin, her hair was cut .short and scjuare upon her 
forehead, and she was sunburned dark as a Comanclie. She called out in good 
Knglish, however, saying she had escaped from Indian captivity. She was im- 
medialel)' taken into John \\'. Smith's hou.se, and we American ladies gathered 
to see her and care for her. She was very tired and hungry and almost exhausted. 
.... Her story was as follows: She came to Texas from Virginia early in 188"), 
with her husband, who, she claimed, was a relative of Daniel Wel)ster. They built 
a house northeast of Austin; and in August of that year her husband was removing 
her and her four children to to this wild home. They had also in the party two 
negroes and one white man. They were camped one evening on Brushy Creek, 
not far north of Austin, when a large body of Comanches suddenly attacked them. 
The three men fought braveh-, but were o\-erpowered and killed. Mrs. Webster's 
infant was taken from her arms and its brains dashed out against a tree and her 
second child killed. She and her eldest boy, ' Booker ' were tied upon horses 
and she held her child of two years so tightly to her breast and pleaded so pite- 
ously for its life that the Indians left it with her. They were taken by rapid 
marches to the mountains, where they stripped ' Booker ' and shaved his head. 
He was attacked with brain fever, and an old squaw, who had just lost a son of 
his age, adopted him and nursed him very tenderly. The Indians let her keep her 
little girl, but forbade her talking to her son. They made her cook and stake out 
ponies and beat her continually. She had been nineteen months in captivity when 
she seized a favorable opportunity to escape. It was one night after a long day's 
march, when, having learned the general direction of San Antonio, she quietly 
slipped out of camp with her child in her arms and bent her steps towards Bexar. 
She spent twelve terrible days on the road without meeting a human being. She 
.sustained herself all this while on berries, small fish which she caught in the 
streams and on bones which she sucked and chewed. Sometimes she gave uj) and 

almost resigned herself to death The morning of the 'ilith a fog came on, 

and unable to see any distance through the fog, she gave up all for lost and lay 
down in utter despair. Soon the sun shone out and the fog disappeared, when, 
looking towards the East, she saw a "golden cross shining in the sky." Then 
she felt that God had answered her prayers, and again took up the march with a 



104 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

thankful heart. She approached the golden cross with earnest steps. It proved 
to be the cross of the Cathedral of vSan Fernando* in San Antonio " 

In the great raid to I^avaca Bay, in August, 1S4C), when Liiniville was 
sacked and General Felix Houston inflicted a memorable defeat on the Indians, 
Mrs. Maverick lost many household effects en route from New Orleans. Amongst 
other things, was a set of law books for Mr. Maverick. These were heard from 
as being ' ' tacked by strings to the Indians' saddle-bows and then used as cigar- 
ette papers. This shows how little respect the Indians had for Blackstone and 
the law." 

The temptation to quote is constant ; in 1.S41 we read about the society of 
San Antonio as follows : 

"We began, now, to have a society and great sociability among.st ourselves, 
the Americans. During this summer, 1S41, Mr. Wilson Riddle brought his bride 
and Mr. Moore his family. These gentlemen were both merchants on Commerce 
street. Mr. John Twohig (the present banker) started a small grocery on the cor- 
ner of Commerce street and Main Plaza. Mrs. Jaques had a boarding house at south 
west corner of Commerce and Yturri streets. She had a considerable place rented 
from Yturri, boarded all the nice j-oung Americans, and was very hospitable and 
pleasant. She was a good nurse, very kind to the sick and wounded, and was 

very popular with the gentlemen President Lamar, with a very 

considerable suite, visited San Antonio in June. A grand ball was given him in 
Mrs. Yturri's 'long room,' — all considerable houses had a "long room ' for recep- 
tions — the room was decorated with flags and evergreens, flowers were not much 
cultivated then ; at the ball General Lamar wore very wide trousers which, at the 
same time, were short enough to show the tops of his shoes. The General and 
Mrs. Juan N. Seguin, wife of the Mayor, opened the ball with a waltz. 
We were forced to smile, for the gallant President, although a poet and a first rate 
conversationalist, could not dance. ... At this ball Hays, Chevalier and 
Howard had but one dress-coat between them, and they agreed to use the 
coat and dance in turn ; the ones not dancing would stand at the door and watch 
the happy tenant of the garment disporting himself on the floor, at the same time 
continually making faces to remind him that his time was up. Their by-play and 
good humor furnished quite a di\ersion and anmsed us ver\- much 

" During this summer the American ladies led a lazy life of ease. We had 
plenty of books, including novels. We were all joung, health)- and happy, and 
were content with each other's society. We read, joked and laughed away the 
time and in those days there were no envyings and no backbiting. . . . Now 
that merchants were establishing themselves on Commerce street, bathing at our 
place had become rather ])ublic, so we ladies got permission of old Sefiora 
Treviiio to erect a bath house on her premises, some distance north on Soledad 
street, afterwards the homestead of the Jaques family. Thither we went in a 
crowd every afternoon at about four o'clock, taking the children and their niirses 
with us and a dainty lunch prepared by one of us in turn to eat after the bath. ' ' 

* Theu the Parish Church. 




SKETCHES or WESTERN TEXAS. 
COWIiOV LIFE. 



MKMOIRS Ol' MRS. M. A. MAVlvRICK. 105 

An eccentric character of those days was a Doctor Weidemaim, — his memory 
is worth keeping green as showing that the present cosmo]iolitan characteristics 
ot San Antonio are congenital, so to speak. ..." He was a Russian scholar 
and naturalist, and an exceUenl physician and surgeon ; a highly cultivated man 
and .spoke many languages, and he had been a great traveler. He lived on tiie 
old Chavez place on Acequia street. I remember that on the night ol" the Indian 
fight of March 19th, 1840, I visited Mrs. Higginbotham, as I have before stated. 
While I was there Dr. Weidemaim came up to her grated front window and 
placed a severed Indian head upon the sill. The good Doctor bowed courteously, 
and saying: 'With your permission. Madam,' disappeared. Presently he 
returned with another bloody head, when he explained to us that he had exam- 
ined all the dead Indians and had selected these heads, male and female, for the 
skulls, besides two entire bodies, to preserve as skeletons. He said, ' I have 
been longing exceedingly to secure such .specimens, and now, ladies, I must get 
a cart to take them home.' Dr. Weidemann had taken an active part in the 
fight, and done good service mounted on his fine horse, and now he was all 
begrimed, bloody and dirty, the result of his labors as a warrior, surgeon and 
scientist. He soon returned with the cart loaded with his magnificent speci- 
mens, took the two heads from the window and departed 

That night he stewed the bodies in a soap boiler, and when the flesh was com- 
pletely de.ssicated, emptied the cauldron into the Acequia. Now, this ditch 
furnished the drinking water generally for the town ; it being understood that 
the River and the San Pedro were reserved for bathing and washing. There was 
a city ordinance to this effect coupled with a heavy fine. On the '21st it dawned 
upon the dwellers on the banks of the ditch that the Doctor had defiled the 
drinking water,and that probably they had taken in particles of Indian in their fluid. 
The people, very properly, gathered in indignation, a mob rushed to the Mayor's 
oflice, the men talked in loud and excited tones, the women shrieked and cried, 
they rolled up their eyes in horror, they vomited, and some of them were so 
frightened that they suffered mis-carriage. Many thought they were poisoned 
and would die. Dr. Weidemann was arrested and brought to trial ; they 
overwhelmed him with abuse, and called him 'diablo,' ' demonio,' 
' sin verguenza,' and so forth. He took it calmly, assured them the 
Indians had all sailed by in the night, paid his fine, and went away 
laughing. Once the Doctor lost his watch. He .suspected one of his 
servants — Jose ; and after waiting in vain for him to confess and .give 
up the property, he determined to get his own again liy ma.gic. He invited 
a party to see the fini, and arraying himself in a figured gown and a 
conical hat, and preparing a fire and cauldron on the roof of his hou.se, he 
sununoned all his servants to his presence and announced that they were all to 
dip their hands into the pot : at the .same time informing them that the hand of 
the guilty one would turn l^lack. The conscience-stricken Jo.sc waited till the 
last, all the others had come through the ordeal with clean hands. He at last 
approached, plunged in his hand, and when he withdrew it, lo, it was black ! 
The wretched man confes.sed in terror, and immediately gave uji the watch. 
Thereafter no Mexican pa.s.sed Dr. Weidemann without cro.ssing himself, for they 
all firmly believed he was in league with the Devil. The Doctor told them thai the 



106 SAN ANTONIO DIC H1';NAR. 

spirits of the boiled Indians were under his control and told him everything. He 
set their skeletons up in his summer house and defied any one to steal from him ; 
it is needless to say his property was not further molested. The Doctor was 
drowned in lS4-'> or 1814 in attempting to swim Peach Creek near Gonzales, 
during a rise." 

Mrs. Maverick gives a graphic account of the flight from San Antonio in 1842 
on the approach of Vasquez. She mentions the burying of valuables, the disposing 
of doubloons in bustles manufactured for the occasion, the turning over of furniture 
to Mexican friends and other incidents of what is known as the " Runaway of '42." 
Mr. Maverick and many gentlemen escorted the ladies as far as the Capote Farm, 
the Erskine place, on the Guadalupe. ' ' On the way from Capote Farm to 
Gonzales we passed King's rancho, which had just been deserted by the owners. 
Here was desolation amidst plenty. The corn-crib was full, the smoke-house 
well supplied, and chickens and hogs were running around as usual. On the 
front door was pasted the following notice : ' To all refugees, welcome: help your- 
selves to what you need. Also to all marching to repel the invaders, take what you 
want but leave the remainder to the next comers.' Hays reoccupied San Antonio, 
but the fugitives continued their flight first to Gonzales and afterwards to L,a Grange. 
Mr. Maverick made a trip to Alabama and returning to San Antonio to the fall 
term of Court, was taken prisoner in the raid by Woll after a gallant but ineflectual 
resistance io a complete surprise. ' ' 

San Antonio was again reoccupied by the Texans after the battle of the Salado, 
but too late to rescue the prisoners, largely on account of the jealousy of the 
commanding ofiicers of the Texan forces, Moore, Morehead and Caldwell. 
Caldwell was the hero of the Salado, but Moore was the ranking officer. Each 
division wanted its own commander to lead, leaving Hays, who had already 
captuied the Mexican Artillerj', to maintain himself "unsupported. The troops 
returned di.sgusted, in small squads, to vSan Antonio, Woll getting off in safety, 
his prisoners being already far on their way. Mr. Ma^-erick was liberated in the 
City of Mexico on March 30th, 1843, through the good offices of General Waddy 
Thonip.son, a connection of his, and then United States Minister to Mexico. The 
remainder of the prisoners were not released by Santa Anna until June Kith of 
the same year. Mr. Maverick started for home on April 2d, and on " May 4th he 
dismounted at our cabin on the Colorado." The family afterward removed to 
Decrow's Point, on Matagorda bay, remaining until October loth, 1847. They 
found the town on their return much changed since '42, "emigrants arriving 
daily." . . . "We mo\-ed directly to our old home, the fence was nearly 
gone and everything dilapidated." In July, L^.'iO, what is known as the 
Maverick Homestead, was begun on the corner of Alamo Plaza and Houston 
street, although that street then had no existence, and years after its opening, 
was known as Paseo. 

This date brings our quotations to an appropriate end, Init we close the MvS. , 
this mirror of by-gone days, with regret. Our extracts have been limited to 
matters of general interest, and we commend them to the reader who lives in 
calmer times, and who would learn somewhat of the struggles to which he owes 
his present comfort, with the admonition to profit by them, not only by informing 
himself of the facts of history, but also by observing some of the spirit of that 
society which has created his own. 



IXTI'RX'II'AV WITH MRS. CAXTl'.Rin'RV. 107 

Interview with Mrs. Canterbury. 

"The Repul)lic of Texas!" Nowadays when "The vState of Texas" is so con- 
stantly in our ears we are a])t to "disrenienil)er" that our wide, broad, .i;iant Texas 
was a star "apart", "lone," by itself and not of the threat and glorious constellation. 
Every year makes the fact of the Republic le.ss faniibar, less paljiable to us. 
Every year thins the ranks of that remnant which can claim that they were citizens 
of the Republic of Texas. Soon this will be a coveted family tradition. To-day 
rfeal old timers are accorded a certain respect, not more indeed than is their due. 
One cannot help being reminded of that exquisite touch of Canon Kinysley in 
his famous "Westward Ho" by which he illustrates the deference — almost filial — 
of a younger generation to the old pioneer "Pelicans" who had sailed the world 
about with their revered and worshipful Master Drake. What had not the 
"Pelicans" not enduied? Fire, battle, murder, sudden death, torture, all this and 
more, was the jiortion of these "wilder comrades sworn to seek." What was 
there then for the .sons of such fathers to do, but to emulate as far as easier times 
would allow so high an example? Now and then in those annals — mention is 
made of noble women who dared to share these perils and hardships. And in 
the annals of Texas — of the Texas Republic — that sort of woman was not so very 
rare. Scientists have adopted an "irresistible impulse theory" with regard to 
the tendency of ]ieople and races to travel — to pioneer — ever Westward, the course 
of the sun. Xot an altogether new theory if. one may credit the verse maker. 

HE 

•'The sun goes West. 

Wliy should not I? 
I still deem best 

That old tittle cry 
Of 'Westward Hoi' 

My love don't you think so?" 

SHE 

"My sun goes West 

Why should not I?" 

It was such impulses that built the best of the Texas of the new regime. It 
required no weak impulses to dare the dangers of those early days — war — 
IndiaiLS — and an almcst untried future were no inconsiderable trifles. There is 
something "deeper than the lips" in such a simj)le coiniuunication as "I came to 
Texas a bride in 1S41." 

"On May "J'id 1.S41," said Mrs. Canterbury, "I came to San Antonio, a 
bride, with my hu.sband Wilson Irvine Riddle. He was one of the earliest 
American merchants on Main street. I was a native of \'irginia, my maiden name 
was Elizabeth Menefee. There was a Menefee, one of the signers of the Declara- 
tion of Independence of Texas, of our family I believe. I was married however 
in Tennessee. Colonel Hays, the noted Indian fighter was a connection of mine 
by marriage, he married my first cousin — a Miss Calvert of Seguin. My husband's 
store was that little quaint two-storied building that still .stands next to 
Sullivan's shoe store, now one door east of the corner of St. Mary's and 
Commerce streets. At that date it was one of the most important buildings 
on Main or Commerce street, and altogether considered to be the finest 
house in the town. It was some years subsequently rented by General 



108 vSAX ANTONIO DK BKXAR. 

Harney for 8(J0 per month, as his residence and for a while military headquarters, 
and still later Major Belger made use of it as a Quartermaster's Depot. It 
was here that my daughter Mrs. Eagar, was born, as also my .son James Wilson 
Riddle, a merchant of Eagle Pass, Texas. Mrs. Eagar was a child only ten days 
old when the Mexicans came on March 7th 1842, I was the last American 
lady to leave the city. I went to Gonzales and remained there from March to 
October 1.S42. In my flight I stayed at Don Maiuiel Flores ranch, a stopping place 
between San Antonio and Seguin. Mrs. Maverick went afterwards to Decrow's 
Point on the coast and stayed there about five years. It was a terribly anxious 
time for the women. After all, these Mexicans under Vasquez, were little more 
than a band of marauders. And when in September of the same year, WoU was 
reported as advancing upon San Antonio with a large force, many of the citizens 
determined if possible to make some kind of defence, but so strong a force was 
very much of a surprise, and many of the citizens were made prisoners, even as the 
District Court was sitting. It was a much more .serious affair than the investment 
of the city under \'asquez in the spring. Our store was robbed of all our goods — 
and a claim against Mexico for the damage done us, is still unsettled. The claim 
was made through the British government, for my husband was a British subject, 
but in the midst of the man>' important events that quickly followed each other at 
that epoch, the claim although acknowledged to be a just one was neglected. 
When it will be settled I know not. Fifty-three good citizens were taken and 
put in chains by Woll, and marched all the weary way to the City of Mexico. I 
knew most of them well. My husband was chained to Wm. E. Jones. His 
brother to John Twohig, the banker — at the time John Twohig had a general store 
at the corner of Main Plaza and Main street, where Deutsch's store is. He coolly 
blew up his store — declaring that no man .should rob him of his goods. Sam 
A. Maverick had for a companion Major Colquhoun, I believe — then there were 
John Bradley the father of Mrs. Waelder, James Truehart, Judge Hutchesou, Dr. 
Hatch, Dr. Booker, Dr. Mackay, Duncan B. Ogden and many others. I have a 
list but don't know just whereto find it now Many men were killed a few days 
after in the fight on the Salado. It was a dreadful time. I also knew many of 
the Mier prisoners — that was a sad bit of history — you have heard all about that 
I expect. 

Soon after I came, my hu.sband gave me a piano — it was about the first in 
Texas. I was the only player in San Antonio then — I still play a little. I had 
that piano until a few months ago, when I sold it for $10; I am sorrj* now that I 
sold it. I still have my old music stool. When the Mexicans came I had my 
piano hastily boxed, and on my return, that, my music stool and a rocker were 
almost my only household possessions. Many of the prominent Mexican families 
were at first wealthy and well-to-do, but they had to live, and they were not mer- 
chants, and extensive farming was out of the question on account of the great 
danger of Indian raids — they did not dare trust themselves for long, out of town, 
so their great estates dwindled, and passed into the hands of others. I have seen 
many and vast changes in San Antonio." 

Many other interesting matters were discu.ssed by Mrs. Canterbury, and per- 
sonal recollections were given of events, the history of which will be learnt in 
school by the children of Texas for many future generations. 



IXTlvR\II';\V WITH RT. RIvV. lilSlIOP NKRAZ. 109 

A Talk with the Rt. Rev. Bishop Neraz 

About the Old Records of the Churcli and the Missions. 

I shall not soon forget my interview with Bishop Neraz. The meeting at 
which much of the information herein written was obtained was one which im- 
pressed me much. It was an appointment. 

The morning- was a lovely one in Jnnc, warm outside but cool and airy in the 
high rooms of the plain but comfortable house on Dwyer Avenue. Would I 
please come up stairs, the Bishop was somewhat lame by reason of advancing 
years, and found it difficult to move about ? I found him busy in his rooms but 
he put aside his work upon my entrance and bid me draw a chair towards his desk. 
He received me with a direct kindliness of maimer at which had there been any 
restraint it must ha\-e \-anished at once. A mixture of quiet dignity and simplic- 
ity one does not wonder in his presence that he is Catholic Bi.shop of San Antonio. 

Said the good Bishop "I have brought here the records that you wished to 
see, some of the old archives of our Church and the Missions, we will look them 
over together — there they are," said he, pointing to his bookshelf — "Will 30U 
please bring them to the desk here?" Taking up the top volume I found the 
leaves of the second one to be loose, and before I could secure them a gust of the 
breeze through the open windows had scattered them over the floor. The Bi.shop 
in spite of my remonstrance hastened to help me to gather them up and laughingl}^ 
remarked " We must take great care of these, the wind is fresh this morning," 
and then we sat down to talk and write. I had written to the Bi.shop some few 
days previously, enclosing at his desire, a string of questions, so he knew just 
about what I wanted. " Your letter came to me," he said, "and I know what 
you require. I wish that you had come to me some years ago, for my memory is 
not so good as it used to be for these things. I used to have charge of the 
records and formerly made it my business to know all abount them, but I will tell 
you what I remember. It is very much to be regretted that many of our church 
records were destroyed by the fire in the Priest House on March ■23rd, 1869. 
Many of the older records were removed to Zacatecas by the Mexican militarj^ 
authorities in 1824. I do not know why they took them from here nor if they are 
still in existence at Zacatecas or elsewhere, but it is a fact that many were taken 
there. The volumes that I have here are very old and about the most interesting 
that we now possess, they are of various matters concerning the church." The 
books were in manuscript and bound in thick brown rudely tanned leather or hide, 
worn smooth by much use and stitched here and there with laces of hide, most 01 
them were cpiarto shape, eight by ten inches or thereabout, varying a little. The 
character of the writing was mostly good, .some of it, however, was difficult to 
decipher, many of the " ss " were made in the old fashioned way like " f f " and 
this made some of the Indian names at first sight a little doubtful, for instance. 
Tilosa read like Tilofa ; Pasala, like Pafala and there were other peculiarities of the 
times and style in which they were written, The Bishop made many running 
translations from the Spanish which I did my iiest to follow. 

" Here is an old book," continued the Bishop, " It is the Record of Marriages 
of Mission Concepcion, I think it will interest you. There is the original record 



nil SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

you see 'Mission Coiicepcioii, Pueblo de Acuiia, founded March 5th, ITol, on the 
border of the River of San Antonio." Here follow 'Marriages of the same 
Mission 17o3 to 1790,' let us make excerpts of the different Indian nations men- 
tioned in this record of marriages. The first marriage is Joseph Flores of the 
nation Patumaco with Efiegenia of the nation Pasalat. The second is Juachin 
Antonio, of the nation Patumaco, with Brigida of the nation Pachalque. The 
third is Christoval, of Nacion Grande de Patalca, with Beatriz, of the nation 
Tilosa, and so on, in IT'iO there appear to have been no marriages. Other 
nations recorded here are Narame, Siquipil, Tilpocopal, Pusan, Pasalat, Pamache, 
Chayopina and the eighty-first marriage is that of Berndino Chaygoya of the 
nation Patumaco, with Antonia of the nation Apache. " 

"Here is a 'Book in which are entered the Baptismal Records which were 
made of the children of the Second Company of Volunteers de San Carlos de 
Parras which sta3ed (or remained) in the Alamo. The Chaplain of it being Brn. 
Don Manuel Saenz de Juan Corena, and it begins on March 1st. 1788.' The book 
is apparently opened however on February (ith 178S. The Alamo is also herein 
mentioned as 'The Pueblo of San Jose,' a style it bore at one short period of the 
Mission's Histor\-; this book runs on till after 1806 when there is a note to the 
effect that the Chaplain Jose Bravo having died then, one Clemente de Aroclia 
took the place of him. It is in the beginning of this book that we find the memo- 
randum that 'On May 8th, 1744 the first (or corner stone) of the new Church 
of San Antonio (de Valero) was blessed, being at the time Clergymen of the 
Mission, Diego Martin Garcia, Mariano Francisco de los Dolores and Friar Juan 
de los Angeles. In proof of which I sign my name in the Mission of San Antonio 
September 29th, 1745' — here follow the three signatures — this however is appar- 
ently a copy of an original entry, made at the date of the opening of this book. 

"The next volume is a book of Episcopal orders, the first signed August (Jth 
1701 concerning various matters of Church Government, these orders were 
brought by courier in advance of the visitation of the Bishop, we shall .see men- 
tion of this later. The first lengthy order in this book refers to previous general 
orders from Rome dated 1681, this is in October 1761. \'erj- likely if we went 
through all this we should find man>' interesting references to doings of the times. 
"This book," said the Bishop, taking up another, "is of similar intention to the 
last, it is the record of 'The Bishop of the 2nd Mitre, begining 1795' — it is styled 
Book 2. Number 1 was probably lost in the fire. It contains copies of 'Tetters 
Pastoral and orders which belong to the town of San Fernando, Royal Province 
of San Antonio de Bexar,' they seem to have been sent in advance of the Bishop 
of New Leon (Nueva Leone) by courier and in order that there shall be no miscar- 
riage of the document, note that the instructions to the recipients are 'and you will 
hold this until the Bishop makes his visitation, when it is to be signed by him,' 
afterwards it is sent to the next church and so on and here is a list of the parishes 
to which this letter was .sent : Cordillera, (Hills), Cerrio, Santiago, San Cantez(?) 
San Nicholas, Croizeri?) Cruallay, Burgos, San Fernando,* Reynosa, Camargo, 
Mier, Bahia, Bexar, Nacogdoches. (Some names are difficult to decipher) "and 
see the careful way," said the Bishop, turning to the end of the volume, "in 

*Pr(ibal>l3' tlie S;iii I't-niando a Mexican border town, i. e. Rio Grande border. 



INTKRVIKW WITH RT. RlvV. BISHOP XI'.RAZ. Ml 

which any interpolations or additions to the letters were avoided or made iniposible, 
'This l)ook has 75'i pages used but there could be used 7-57,' and here are the five 
blank pages at the end." 

''The next book we come to is a book of the Baptisms, etc., of the Mission 
of San Jose — the Second Mission as we call it — here is a memorandum of its 
contents : 

Baptisms of the Mission of San Jose 1777 to 182o, and one of 1N24. 

Marriages " " " 1778 to 1824. 

Burials ': " " " " " 1781 to 1824. 
This same book also contains the same records for San Juan and San Francisco de 
la Espada Missions from 1818 to 1824 which is evidence perhaps that the 
Missions were already becoming of less im]iortance. 

"This last is a 'Book of the Government (or Administration) and Visitation 
of the Foreign Vicar of the Province of Texas, being Don Juan Nepomuceno de 
la Peiia. Anode 1825.' It opens with a circular letter sent by courier, dated 
December, 1824, entitled 'Orders of the Church concerning Civil and Eclesiastical 
administration together,' and signed Sor. Col. Cont. Citizen Estevan de Ostin. 
It also contains the orders of the Bishop to the Priest. 

"We have other Records but this is a representative lot and perhaps these 
are as interesting as any. 

"I am not sure whether Don Juan Nepomuceno de la Peiia, the Foreign 
Vicar (Vicario foraueo) of 182.J was the last President of the Missions, or more 
likely perhaps Francisco Maynes who was named Foreign Vicar by Seiior Dn. D. 
Leon Lobo Guerrero, \'icar Capitular and administrator of the Diocese of Mon- 
terey, on September 3Uth 182"). Ah — I remember — certainly V. Maynes for he 
was the Reverend President at the time when the Superior of the Franciscans 
came and passed, or delivered to the Bishop of Monterey all the Missions and their 
lands. Most of the lands of the Missions had been divided among the Indians be- 
longing to each, with the exception of, it appears, fifteen acres which the Mexican 
Government attached to and granted to each Mission. The lands were I believe 
given or distributed to the Indians by suertes or lots. Bishop Odin bought back 
some of the .suertes and the taxes of this land have been paid by the Church ever 
since. The Church has been in possession of the Mission properties since 1824 or 
January 1825. Some of these facts may be seen in the deeds to Bishop Odin. 
The state never excluded the rights of the occupants as has been averred, on the 
contrar}-, it recognized their rights as is proved by the result of the law suits 
gained by Bishop Odin in 1856. Mr. Altgelt knows a good deal about these 
matters. He has in his possession a book which gives the history and laws re- 
garding these lands and transactions. 

"Who was San Antonio? He was St. Anthony of Padua, he was born in 
the year 1195 and entered the Franciscan Order in 1221 , he died June K^th 12:51 ." 




112 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

Interviews with Dr. Cupples— 1890. 

To Dr. Cupples thanks are due for many valuable hints and suggestions to 
the compilation of this work. Was the editor at a loss to trace the date of any 
particular happening of the earlier days after the Texan Declaration of 
Independence, if Dr. Cupples could not give it out of his excellent memory, in 
talking over the event, some old and apparently insignificant recollection would be 
incidentally dropped that would be sure to lead to the elucidation of the point in 
question. It is interesting to note how closely linked in one's memories are 
stirring and momentous actions with the commonplaces of every day life. Once 
was discovered the name of a man who had done some action worthy to be 
forgotten, but which was not inconsequent to a more important event, by the 
Doctor remembering that he had cured the man's brother of an extraordinary 
gall stone. It is the evidence and aid of such witnesses as Dr. Cupples that the 
historian even of modest pretensions knows how to value. Documentary evidence 
is one thing in its strength and firmness, but that of the contemporary or eye 
witness is another. A dear, musty-smelling, frayed, don't-touch-me-or-I-shall 
fall-to pieces kind of document, written all over with the rigmarole of other days 
in quaint old-fashioned characters and signatures of familiar sounding names and 
lots of dates, is indeed a treasure and invaluable in the eyes of a searcher. But 
for that keen interest and enjoyment which is peculiar to triflers with the past, 
there is nothing to compare with the excitement of hearing that of a truth, such a 
man looked thus and another did that in this manner at such a moment, when 
each actor's senses were strained and quivering, and the listener feels that the 
emotions of men and facts in some momentous doings of the past are being recalled 
with a vividness that no second hand or written evidence could array. 

Dr. Cupples has seen, experienced and endured much in a long, active and 
useful life, and to his taste for action he has brought the relish of a learned and 
enlightened observation. The editor here wishes to acknowledge the value to 
him of many comments by Dr. Cupples, upon notes of his prior to their final 
preparation for the press. 

" I note," said the Doctor, " the curious discrepancy and anachronism in the 
fac simile drawings of those .seals. You see this Royal seal dated l.S^o, sometime 
after the secession of Mexico, is on the same document with a Mexican Govern- 
ment seal of even an earlier date. My explanation would be that in the desire to 
have the document legal at all hazards, it was thought best in that unsettled 
period to make sure of having the right .seal by using both. I don't know 
that it was so, but it looks as if it were, does it not ? 

'■ I think you should note that the original settlement of the Canary Islanders 
was not around the Military and Main Plazas, as is commonly supposed ; that 
was an after move. The first settlement was at the San Pedro Springs, between 
the crossing on North Flores street and the head springs. They subsequently 
removed to the location of those Plazas, concluding that it could be more easily 
defended against the incursions of hostile tribes than the settlements at the 
Springs. The Head of the San Pedro had always been a favorite watering place 
of the Apaches and other hostiles of the hills to the north and northwest. 



INTERX'IlvW WITH DR. CriM'M!;vS. ll". 

' Yes, I remember many <if the old erections around the enclosure of the 
Plaza de Armas (Military Plaza). I knew the man Goodman, you speak of; I 
rememl)er him well, and the years of trouble he gave the city before he was finally 
ousted from the property on the Plaza, just opposite where Kalteyer's drug store 
is now was the location of the property he claimed. I remember he once came 
near to killing Ed. Dwyer over that and other matters, that was the late Mr. 
Dwyer's father, the present boys' grandfather. You say Juan Seguin* is still alive 
at Laredo — well, I shouldn't wonder ; he wouldn't be so very old. I knew his 
father very well, Seiior Erasmo Seguin, a perfect and courtl)' old Spanish 
gentleman. Juan Seguin was Gefe Politico here in ]X']o or 'oCi, I believe. Grad- 
ually, and piece bj' piece, the city acquired the properties that private citizens 
claimed on the Plazas, and finallv the whole space was cleared. The Bat Cave is 
a remnant of these old properties and the store owned b\- the Russis and rented 
by Dullnig, on the northeast corner of Military Plaza, was the last of all the en- 
closing buildings to di.'?appear, in ISSS. The Plaza de las Yslas or Main Plaza, 
was similarl)' afflicted, but the city became possessed of all the Plaza, finally. 
The Callaghan and Groesbeeck properties were the last to be improved off this 
Plaza. 

'•That portion of the city around Market street from Main Plaza, was in anle- 
Independence days about out of the thickly settled limits. It was called the 
Potrero, or the place for horses, because that was where all the horses of those 
who came to town were put for the night. Later, Manuel Yturri, probably the 
grandfather of the present M. Yturri, (the Yturris' are a family from the Basque 
Provinces, I believe) built a hou.se on Market street, and — let me see — McGloin 
lived there, too, the Empresario who .settled up the San Patricio country. On the 
west side of the Plaza de Armas in Spanish and Mexican times, the entries used 
to be closed at nightfall by rawhides hung on chains tightly stretched across the 
narrow roads. Behind these the settlers in the Plaza enclosure were safe from sur- 
prises by Indians and their arrows. The rawhide was arrow-proof. 

"And the 'Plaza House' was a prominent institution in its days. This 
hostelry used to stand just about where the White Elephant was and Wo'.fson's. 
It was the starting place of the stages to Seguin, Port Lavaca, Victoria and a 
number of other places. It belonged to the late Mr. Bill}- Elliott's father, the 
present boy's grandfather. It was a two-story building. It was there that old 
Winchell tried hard to break his neck by falling from the upper gallery. Then 
Alsbury had the house. I forget who was the last holder of the old place. The 
Padre Garza House was another old landmark of which I have a lively recollection. 

" I came here on April "-'"th, lS-44, with Castro's Colony. Dr. Herff says he 
finally settled in San Antonio in l.S.")(). I think the Doctor is mistaken in the 
year; it nuist have lieen in IS 111. I am pretty sure about that. Yes, I was in 
the First Carlist War. I was Staff Assistant Surgeon to the British Legion in 
Spain in 1S.",(;. Afterwards I went to Paris, where I met Castro and came here- 
Without knowing it I located the present townsite of Castroville, and I cut the 
first brush there for the first clearing. On account of the troubles with Mexico 
and the hostile Indians, it was found impracticable to locate on the Colony's 

♦since this was written Jiiau Seguin has died at New Laredo. It is alleged that he was over IH) years of age 



114 SAN ANTONIO DE BKXAR. 

chosen lands, so Castro bought a league of land, paying the sum of S2000 for it, 
which he gave to the colonists ; l)ut there were suits brought for the land, — 
disputed title, — and finally the colonists had to pay for their lots at Castroville 
twice over to two different claimants, to Illis and to another. Mrs. Cupples, my 
wife, was a Miss Jaques. Mr. and Mrs. Jaques, her parents, were very old-timers 
in Texas. They were intimate with Stephen F. Austin and many others of the 
earlier settlers. My wife still possesses a watch which Austin gave Mr. Jaques as a 
memento of his gratitude for aid rendered him in his escape from Mexico in 1835. 
Mr. Jaques' house was burned by Vasquez in 1S42, and again when Woll invested 
the city he was placed under guard and would undoubtedly have been shot but for 
the intervention of Colonel Carasco, of General Woll's staff, who pleaded for his 
life. Colonel Carasco was friendly to Mr. Jaques because ot some favor rendered. 

"You spoke of the Recapitulation of the Indies," continued Dr. Cupples. 
" Perhaps I can tell you something about that. It was a-kind of code and record 
of the Council of the Indies. This Council had its seat in Seville, I believe, and 
its members were appointed by the Crown. It had control and direction of Spain's 
Colonies in all parts of the world. Recognizing that water was a chief necessity 
to the existence, not to say success, of a Colony, they devised exhaustive 
regulations and laws concerning the preservation of water rights, the construction 
of works of irrigation and the control of such water always to the best public 
advantage and the division of Suertes of the Regadios to Regadors. The lot on 
which this hou.se stands" (the Doctor's residence on Soledad street) "is entitled 
to so many hours of water daily trom the San Pedro Acequia. It was formerly 
considered to be an inalienable right of the property holder. How the city over- 
ruled the privilege I cannot explain. The importance of land was formerly reck- 
oned by the hours of water to which it was entitled. One of the rules in the Re- 
capitulation was that navigable streams should have reserved for public needs, on 
either bank, a strip of land twelve varas wide. The San Antonio River was con- 
sidered to be in their sense a navigable stream, and the rule undoubtedly applied 
to our River. Giraud was right as to this, but he lacked firmness. He was a 
good man, and had he sufficiently insisted, perhaps the city would be able to-day 
to boa.st of a remnant of a splendid possession. Giraud was one of the few who 
.saw the right of the matter clearly." 

And now what a book might be written from the Doctor's recollection of 
the know-nothing movement here, of the great war and of the famous Vigilance 
Committee troubles. But as Mr. Kipling would say — that is another story. 






INTERVIEW WITH DR. I-IvRDINAXI) IIlvRl'l-, SR. Ho 

An Interview with Dr. Ferdinand Herff, Senior, 

May 19th, 1890. 

Dr. Herff said, "I came for the first time to America in 184(1. I was one 
of a Socialistic Colonj- and Society founded by a number of young men of good 
familj^ and position for the purpose of emigrating to Wisconsin. Our Society 
made some stir among certain circles, principally the upper in Germany. 
A few years previous to the organization of our Society an Emigration Association 
had been formed by a company of noblemen in Germany under the Presidency of 
Boos-Waldeck. This company had partly purchased, partly obtained by 
Empresario Grants a large tract of land near San Saba. Prince Solms was the 
next subsequent president of this company and obtaining further land concessions 
New Braunfels, named after Prince Sohns' German home or castle, was founded. 
Other presidents of this company were Meusebach and Spie?. This Association 
having heard of our Society and its intention of emigrating to Wisconsin made 
overtures to us pointing out the advantages that Texas offered and asked us to 
join them and .settle in their territory. We agreed to do so if they could offer us a 
■sufiicient number of inducements to make us change our minds, for while at that 
date Wisconsin was well within the pale of civilization, Texas was a wild, rough and 
dangerous region. We finally decided to change our destination to Texas. I landed 
in New York in 1846. The railroad south only reached as far as Wheeling, \'a., 
from whence we staged it to New Orleans and thence by water to Galveston and 
from Galveston to Indianola which was then the western Texas Port, we arrived at 
thelatterplaceat the end of April 1847. I was one of the earlier arrivals of the vSocie- 
ty to which I belonged, the bulk of my associates came over in August, 1847. The 
scheme in the end was not a success and in the course of a year or two I returned 
to Germany and was there married and re-emigrated on my own account to vSan 
Antonio with my wife, arriving at San Antonio early in April 18.')0, and I perma- 
nently settled there. You see I had frequently been in this city, on visits, before 
this time, but wlien I first came to Texas I was settled some two hundred miles 
from here. Many of our old German citizens came to Texas in those years. All 
sorts of people came under the auspices of these and similar Societies. Texas has 
received its population from many sources, this was one and an important one. 
Any one whom they could induce came. This Society expected to reap a profit 
of course. Principally by letting out and selling at cheap rates alternate parcels 
and sections of lands in their settletnents and grants, but in the end it came to 
little more than nothing and the company 'busted up' and the colonists for the 
most part scattered. 

Dr. Herff continued : 

"Another important Colony was that of Castro which was one mostly French 
or rather Alsatian. That was in the days when Alsace, j'ou know, belonged to 
France. If I remember correctlj' Dr. Cupples told me he came to Texas with this 
Colonj- in 1844. I am not quite sure of the.se following facts but it is what I 
think I remember him to have told me. Dr. Cupples was Staff Assistant Surgeon 
to the British Auxiliary Legion which went to vSpain during the first Carlist War 
there in 18?)0. He afterwards returned to Paris — he speaks French fluently — it 
was there I believe that he met Castro who induced him to emigrate to Texas. 
Castroville was founded by this Colonv in IS 14, September J^rd. 



116 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

An Interview with Mr. John Dobbin — 1890. 

" Can you tell me when such and such an event happened? " Is a question 
that we have had occasion to ask of manj- an old timer. In the event he were at a 
loss for the date we could be pretty- sure of the answer to come. ' ' Now let me see, ' ' 
would be the meditative reply, " I have forgotten for the moment the date of that, 
but," and with a smile of perfect satisfaction that the question was as good as 
answered, " I can tell you who knows more about that than any other man living, 
just ask John Dobbin, he'll tell j-ou all about it." And if we had not very recently 
teased Mr. Dobbin about some other knotty question, to him we should go for our 
information, alwaj^ finding him a willing witness of the "golden daj's" and their 
eventful hours. They were not alway golden, there was in these early days at 
times a good deal of lead. But then, pioneer days are long gone by in Texas. If 
some of our romantic northern friends could only be persuaded of this, there 
would be less money wasted on " bulldogs " and " frontiers." These ideas are a 
relic of stormier times, times when the Great West was being opened up, and 
w^hen all that vast territory was perhaps less quiet and law abiding than it ought 
to have been. Such episodes as the one narrated here went out of fashion in 
Texas earlier than in any other part of the wild west. It is an event of '57, and 
since then it may be fairh- said that Western Texas, and without doubt, San Antonio 
has seen less of lynch law than any .section of western country. Mr. Dobbin tells us 
so and he has been in the best official positions to judge of the matter. This event 
was the shooting of Bill Hart. Bill Hart was about one of the worst desperadoes 
to whom Texas ever gave a home. According to all local tradition, "he was a 
prettv bad man," — he was, — but 'de mortuis' — and the rest — we may speak of the 
good work of the V. C. 

" I had better write it down," said Mr. Dobbin, " I shall recall the circum- 
stances more accuratelj'," and forthwith the following graphic account was penned : 

" Bill Hart was killed on the 29th day of May, 1857, and along with him his 
companion Miller and a government teamster named Wood. Fieldstrop also was 
killed. Fieldstrop was a discharged soldier and had been employed by the Vigi- 
lance Committee to watch Hart and his party the night previous and when Hart 
and his friend Miller, passed on their way down Mission street, they were fired 
upon by Fieldstrop who had a doubled barreled gun. Miller was killed dead, 
falling in the alley north of the Brewer hou.se. Bill Hart, too, was mortalh- 
wounded, his right wrist and left thigh broken, besides having eleven buckshot 
wounds ill the region of his kidnej' on the left side, nevertheless, such extraordi- 
nary vitality he had that he reached the Brewer house where he took shelter from 
his numerous enemies. Fieldstrop having reloaded his gun in Supervielle's 
house (just behind where Wolf & Marx's store is now, on Alamo street) ap- 
proached the Brewer house with the intention of giving Hart the coup de grace, 
when Wood, the government team.ster, before mentioned, came out of the door 
and ordered Fieldstrop off, saying that Fieldstrop had done enough harm already, 
also that he, Wood, was Bill's friend: "That is enough," replied Fieldstrop 
raising his gun and firing, killing Wood instantlj'. At the same moment Hart 
appeared at the other door supporting himself on an old shovel shaft, with a pistol 



vSKNORA CANDKLARIA. 117 

ill his left unwounded hand, the right wrist having been, as I say, shattered by 
Fieldstrop's first shot. Immediately Fieldstrop's gun was aimed at Bill Hart's 
breast, bat it snapped and missed fire. Hart then instantly fired at Fieldstrop, 
shooting him fairly in the centre of the forehead. Hart then retired in a dying 
condition into the back room of the hon.se. At this crisis Jim Taylor came up, 
ru.shed into the house, his head and shoulders well down to lessen the ri.sk of 
bullets penetrating, they glance from the body quicker that waj'. Hart shot him 
ill the right breast as he entered the backroom. Taylor, however, got Hart by 
the hair of the head and dragged him into the backyard, shooting him repeatedly 
in the body. Then a horrible sight — everybody, the small street gamins even, 
coming in at the death by the dozen, discharging their little pops into the dying 
man, making a perfect lead mine of him. Yes, it was a terrible morning's work. 
He might have richly deserved his fate, but believe me and I know of what I 
speak, these matters are best settled by the law. " 



Sehora Candelaria. 

On Saturday, March 17th ISSS, \St. Patrick's Day; I believe, I went with a 
friend (who took his Photographic Camera along for he had the amatuer craze) 

and Mr. , who was an acquisition on account of his fluent knowledge 

of the two languages, Spanish and English, to call on the old, very old, Seiiora 
Candelaria. Our interview lasted for upwards of an hour and knowing but little 

or nothing of Spanish myself I asked her through Mr. a few questions 

that I thought would elucidate what some deemed to be ob-scu re pretentions. The 
result of this and other later interviews are here given, and the reader must judge 
for himself the value of the statements and evidence. She is at least a very old 
and interesting person, lively and full of the recollection and reminiscences of 
the men and the stirring times of the Texan Revolution. 

I asked her was she inside tlic fortifications of the Alamo during the fight? 
She answered unhesitatingly "Yes." Was she in the Alamo Church building 
during the last stand ? She replied as before without reflection that she was, in 
those moments she was nursing Colonel James Bowie who was in bed very ill of 
typhoid fever, and that as she was in the act of giving him a drink of water the 
Mexican soldien- rushed in, wounding her in the chin — showing an old scar^and 
killing Bowie in her arms. She demonstrated this .scene in quite an active 
fashion and .showed lis exactly how she was holding Bowie, her left arm around 
his shoulders and a drinking cup in her right hand. 

I next asked her what was done with the bodies of the Texans ? She said 
all were cremated. With the bodies of the dead Mexicans? All were cremated. 
Were there many American families living in San Antonio then ? Some, but they 
all fled or the men took refuge within the Alamo. Did .she know Mrs. Dickinson ? 
Yes, but not well. She adopted an expression of considerable repugnance at this 
question, and said with some snap that Mrs. Dickinson hated Mexicans. Perhaps 



118 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

Mrs. Dickinson liad some reason to do so ! I was particular to ask her about a 
child of Mrs. Dickin.son and she said that the husband of Mrs. Dickinson was 
fighting as one of the defenders of the Alamo and that when he saw the cause was 
lost he hastened down from the walls and took his son, a little child, and tied 
him around his waist in front of him, got to the top of the wall at the front of the 
Church and jumped down among the fighting Mexicans below and both were 
killed. This is very dramatic but it is not I believe elsewhere recorded. Being 
anxious to know about the daughter of Mrs. Dickinson I asked her if she had not 
heard that such a child had escaped the massacre with her mother. She believed 
she said, that Mrs. Dickinson had taken a daughter with her in her flight, she 
had been told .so at any rate. 

She said that she recollected Da\-id Crockett before the fight. But she could 
not have known him well, for Crockett was only in San Antonio a few weeks 
before he lost his life in the Alamo. The rest of the Texans she did not know so 
well. Most of these men came to San Antonio just previous to the siege. She 
did not know anything of Ben Milam who was killed in the \'eraniendi House at 
the storming of San Antonio in December, 1835. She had not heard of him nor 
was she aware that he was buried on Milam Square, and that there was a stone 
to his memory there, though her house and jacal were alnio.st within a stone 
throw of the place. 

I then asked her age. The old lady said one hundred years and three 
months, holding out three very wrinkled fingers. Her hands were large for a 
Mexican. vShe looked quite the age she said, or older, for that matter, great 
deep ridges, wrinkles and furrows of skin on her face and hands as ' ' brown as is 
the ribbed sea sand." She was almost toothless, ver}- little hair of a light 
yellowish color. Never suffered any sickness, quite active, alert and quick to 
perceive and understand. A cigarette smoker. Her eyes .she feared were 
beginning to fail her ; they were rheumish with red circles underneath. 

My friend next interviewed her with his camera and took two excellent 
negatives in different positions. I then asked her a question upon a matter which 
had puzzled me and which puzzles me still, though .she had a read}' answer to it 
as she had for any other asked. vShe informed me that the water from the 
Acequia was used constantly by the defenders of the Alamo during the siege. I 
naturally a.sked why the besiegers did not cut ofl^ the water or divert it and so 
distress those within ? She said the Indians at the Missions would not have 
allowed this ! 

She remembered perfectly that there was a roof formerly to the Alamo Church 
prior to the siege, but that it was destroyed during the siege by the cannonading. 

She had given, when her memory was better, full depositions and statements 
of all her recollections to Major Teel, and that he held the same. As to Mr. 
Gentilz's picture that was compiled from her pensonal descriptions and recollec- 
tions. It was very good : that it was an exact representation of the Alamo as it 
was at the time of its fall, and that it gave a fair idea of the fight. 

She mentioned Mr. John Twohig, saying that she knew him " Como mis 
manos," — "Like my hands," which is a favorite idiom of the old woman. 
" Visitors come everv dav to see me to hear my story of the Alamo." 



COL. FORDS MlvMOIRS. 119 

Returning- to the subject of David Crockett, the old Seiiora said he was 
one of the first to fall ; that he advanced from the Church building "towards the 
wall or rampart running from the end of the stockade, slowly and with great 
deliberation, without arms, when suddenly a volley was fired by the Mexicans 
causing him to tall forward on his face, dead." 

She was quite anxious to rememl)er everything. With reference to a man 
whom many regard to be an imposter, and of whom no one has ever gleaned 
anything authentic, Sefiora Candelaria .said she could endorse him as another 
child of the Alamo. She remembered his frightened condition during the 
bombardment. " He clutched her dress as children do," trying to hide his face. 

Such are her recollections ; the reader must make many allowances. So 
long and active a life as hers nuist be crowded — more — overcrowded, and jumbled 
with the multitude of things to remember. 

On other occasions, in April of this \ear, I revisited her twice with a good 
interpreter as a companion, and she said : " My maiden name was Andrea 
Castafion. T was born on St. Andrew's day, in November, 17>i5, at Laredo. I 
am 1(>"> years old. I have been twice married : my first husband was Silberio 
Mores y Abrigo ; nn- second was Candelario \"illanueva,* but I am called 
familiarly vSeiiora Candelaria." 

1 may add that I read to my companions these interviews at the dates of our 
visits. I wrote them from notes taken at the time upon arriving home, and my 
com]-anions subscribed to every partictilar. 

* I find the following in the County Records— Kl>. 

" I do solemnly swear that I was a resident citizen of Texas at the date of the Declaration of 
Independence. That I did not leave the country during the Campaign of the spring of ISili to avoid participation 
in the War. and that I did not aid nor assist the I%neniy ; that I have not previously received a title for my 
quantum of land, and that I conceive mj-self to he justly entitled under the Constitution and laws to the 
quantity for which I now apply. April2!lth, 1.137. C.\ndki..\rio Villani-eva." 



Col. Ford's Memoirs. 



The Fighting of the Alamo. 

The following description ofthefall of the .\lamo is from the memoirs of Col. Ford, a gentleman mentioned 
many times in this work— a pioneer, an Indian fighter, a Te.van. The information he gives is derived first hand 
from informants he well knew: 

In l<S;lo General Santa Anna overturned the republican form of go\-ernment 
in Mexico and violated the constitution of 1^24. This instrument the colonists ot 
Texas had sworn to support. He reduced the number of militia in each state oi 
Mexico to one for every five hundred inhabitants, and issued a decree to disarm 
the remainder. The people of Texas though numbering less than 10<),(K1(), saw 
the meaning and intent of these movements. They prepared for resistance. They 
sent troops to invest San Antonio. It was surrendered by General Cos on Decem- 
ber U>, l,s3.^, to the Texans under General Edward Burleson. 

The Texas troops were disbanded and went to their homes, except a small 
force left in San Antonio, commanded bv Colonel Neill. General Cos and his com- 



120 SAX ANTONIO DIv BKXAR. 

iiiand moved in the direction of Laredo. The)- were paroled and promised not to 
bear arms against Texas during the war. 

The bod\- known as the "Consultation" reassembled at San Felipe de Austin 
November 1, 18?)."). They formulated a provisional government, elected Henry 
Smith, governor ; James W. Robinson, lieutenant-governor ; Sam Houston, com- 
mander-in-chief, and elected five of their members to remain and assist the gov 
ernor in the discharge of his duties. The "Consultation" adjourned to meet at 
Washington, on the Brazos, March 1, 1836. The five members remaining at San 
Felipe de Austin took it upon themselves to control the governor and General 
Houston. Deposed the governor, advocated the invasion of Mexico, appointed 
ofiicers to command, and had a large number of troops in the west where they 
were beaten in detail. 

Colonel Bowie aided General Houston in his efforts to concentrate the Texas 
troops. He came to San Antonio, saw Colonel Neill, who soon after left, with a 
view, as many affirm, to procure transportation to move the artillery and munitions 
of war. He carried Deaf Smith with him. He left Colonel James Bowie in com- 
mand. Bowie fell sick. In a few daA-s Colonel Travis arrived and assumed com- 
mand. Juan N. Seguin sent a cousin of his to Laredo with orders to report the 
appearance of a force from Mexico of sufficient strength to invade Texas. He 
returned and affirmed that General Santa Amia had crossed the Rio Grande with 
an arnu'. He forced General Cos and his men to violate tlieir parole, and to take 
service against the Texans. 

When the report was made at San Antonio, the Texans refused to Ijelieve it. 
They remained too near the town to learn what was transpiring outside. A sen- 
tinel was placed in the church on the west side of the river. One day he reported 
Mexican troops westward of the town. A man ascended to him and was unable to 
see any armed men. The sentinel was accused of reporting falsely. Eventually 
Travis ordered Dr. John Sutherland and J. W. Smith to go out on horseback and 
ascertain the truth. They proceeded to the top of Prospect Hill, and found them- 
selves within 1")() yards of the Mexican army. They started back at a run. Suth- 
erland's horse gathered mud on his feet, turned a .somersault, crippled Sutherland 
and broke his gun. Smith dismounted and relieved Sutherland. When they 
reached town and reported all was in conunotion. Travis marched the Texans to 
the Alamo, (^n the way they found twenty or tliirty beeves, which they drove into 
the fort. All was activity now. The first thing was to place tlie building in a 
position to stand the seige. That night they tore down a number of "jacales" 
(huts) not far from the Alamo, and brought in the wood for cooking. Men were 
told what part of the walls they were to defend. David Crockett and his twelve 
brave Tennesseeans were allotted a conspicuous point to cover. Every man was 
at his po.st and read}- for duty. This is learned from Dr. vSutherland who wrote an 
article on the fall of the Alamo, full of information. He was too badly hurt l)y the 
fall of his horse to do good duty, and for that reason Col. Travis directed him to 
proceed to Gonzales and procure reinforcements, a duty he performed properlj- and 
promptly. 

Gen. vSanta Anna reached San Antonio February 22nd or 2.']rd. Two nights 
pre\'iously he encamped on the Medina where he learned the Texans were attend- 



COL. FORD'S MICMOIRS. ■ 1'21 

in<i a fandango. He formed the idea of reaching and attacking them before daj'- 
liglit. He was encamped on botli sides of the Medina. His annnunition wagons 
were on tlie west hank. A rain had fallen and the river had risen suddenly and he 
found it impossible to get ready. A norther was blowing. Under the circum- 
stances he gave up the movement. 

He was of the opinion that the Texians would occupy the Mission Concep- 
cion. He .said it afforded more facilities for defense by a small force than the 
Alamo. 

General Santa Anna's army numbered about 4,1)1)0. General Tolsa was 
expected to arrive .soon at the head of .!,<)()() men. 

Dr. Sutherland mentions the sending of a couple of officers, under a white flag 
to demand a surrender of the Alamo. Colonel Travis dispatched Major Morris 
and Captain Martin to meet them. They had a conference on a foot-bridge just 
above the present bridge on Commerce street. Colonel Travis answered by a cannon 
shot. 

General Santa Anna intended crossing the river below the Alamo, out of reach 
of Colonel Travis' guns. He directed General Castrillon, with two companies of the 
battalion of Matamoras, to gather tind^ers to make a bridge from houses on the 
Alamo side. They were in reach of the rifles of the Texians. Within a few minutes 
thirty of the Mexicans were killed. General Castrillon requested General Santa 
Ainia to order their withdrawal, if he wished to save their lives. They were 
withdrawn at once. 

The unequal contest was now opened. 

On the third day of March, Travis addressed a last appeal to the president ot 
the convention at Washington on the Brazos. He said that "the blood red ban- 
ners which waved on the church at Bexar and in the camp above him were tokens 
that the war was one of vengeance against rebels." To a friend in Washington 
county he wrote: "Take care of my little boy. If the country should be saved I 
may make him a splendid fortune, but if the country should be lost and I should 
perish, he will have nothing but the proud recollection that he is the son of a man 
who died for his country." 

On February 'I'Wd Travis wrote to F'annin at Goliad, asking for a.ssi.stance. 
Fainiin attempted to march to San Antonio on the 'JStli, but failed for want of trans- 
portation. This was the last chance apparently ax'ailable to aid the defenders of 
the Alamo. 

On March ;!rd Tolsa reached San Antonio. General Santa Anna began to pre- 
pare for the final assault on the Alamo. On the 5th day of March, Santa Anna 
issued an order for an assault on the Alamo, naming the officers to take charge of 
the four attacking columns, the cohnnns to be in readiness at 4 o'clock a. m., and 
to move at the sound of the bugle at the north battery, where he would be sta- 
tioned. 

Sergeant Becera thus describes the contest of March (ith, lS;!(i: 

"The troops under General Castrillon moved in silence. They reached the 
fort, planted scaling ladders and commenced ascending, some mounted upon the 



1-22 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

shoulders of others. A terrible fire belched from the interior. Men fell from the 
scaling ladders by the score, many pierced through the head by balls, others felled 
by clubbed guns. The dead and wounded covered the ground. After half an 
hour of fierce conflict, after the sacrifice of many lives, the column of General Cas- 
trillon succeeded in making a lodgment in the upper part of the Alamo to the 
northeast. It was a sort of outwork. I think it is now used as a lot or a court- 
yard. This seeming advantage was a mere prelude to the desperate struggle 
which ensued. The doors of the Alamo building were barricaded by bags of sand 
as high as the neck of a man; the windows also. On the top of the roofs of the 
different apartments were rows of sandbags to cover the besieged. 

■'Our troops, inspired by success, continued the attack with energy and bold- 
ness. The Texians fought like devils. It was at short range — muzzle to muzzle, 
hand to hand, musket and rifle, bayonet and bowie knife — all were mingled in con- 
fu.sion. Here a squad of Mexicans, there a Texian or two. The crash of fire arms 
the .shouts of defiance, the cries of the dying and the wounded, made a din almost 
infernal. The Texians defended desperately every inch of the fort — overpowered 
by numbers they would be forced to abandon a room. They would rally in the 
next, and defend it until further resistance became impos.sible. 

"General Tolsa's command forced an entrance at the door of the church 
building. He met the same determined resistance without and within. He won 
by force of numbers and a great .sacrifice of life. 

"There was a long room on the ground floor. It was darkened. Here the 
fight was bloody. It proved to he the hospital. A detachment of which I had 
command had captured a piece of artillery. It was placed near the door of the 
hospital, doubly charged with grape and canister, and fired twice. We entered 
and found the corjxses of fifteen Texians. On the outside we atterward found 
forty-two dead Mexicans. 

"On the top of the church building I saw eleven Texians. They had some 
small pieces of artillery and were firing on the cavalry and on those engaged in 
making the escalade. Their anununition was exhausted and they were loading 
with pieces of iron and nails. The captured piece was placed in a position to 
reach them, doubly charged, and fired with so much effect that they ceased work- 
ing their pieces." * -'■ * * ■■'■ ■'■• » * * * 

Sergeant Becera was of opinion that the two last men killed were Travis 
and Crockett, though he admitted he tlid not know them personally and might be 
mistaken as to their identity. 

The Alamo, as has been stated, was entered at daylight; the fight did not 
cease till 9 o'clock. 

"General Santa Anna directed Colonel Mora to send out his cavalry to bring 
in wood. He ordered that they should make prisoners of all the inhabitants they 
might meet, and force them to pack wood to the Alamo. In this maimer a large 
quantity of wood was collected. A large pile was raised. It consisted of layers 
of wood and layers of corjjses of Texians. It was set on fire. The bodies of those 
brave men who fell fighting that morning, as men have seldom fought, were 
reduced to asli^s bgfore the sun was set. It was a melancholy spectacle." 



COL. FORD'S MEMOIRS. 12;; 

Don l.iiiu Ruiz, a respectable Mexican of Brownsville, claimed to iiave been 
one of the men compelled to pack wood on that occasion. * * * 

Mr. Nagle, an Englishman, inscribed their names on a stone of the Alamo. 
It has an inscription: "Thennopyhe had her messenger of defeat, but the Alamo 
had none." That memorial is at Austin. 

The number of Texians who lell cannot be accurately ascertained. Dr. 
Sutherland placed it at 17-. Afiout twenty Mexicans joined them. Hut four of 
these remained to be massacred. 

Eight or ten Mexican ladies were in the Alamo when it fell. Mrs. Als- 
bury, an adopted daughter of Governor \'eramendi and her little sister, Seiioras 
Candelaria, Losoyo and others were present at the end of the siege. Senora 
Candelaria was nursing Bowie, .sick of typhoid fever. She .says she raised 
his head to give him water, when the Mexican soldiers came in bayoneted him 
and gave her a wound in the face. Mrs. Alsbury told Mrs. Maverick that the 
Mexican soldiers hoisted Colonel Bowie's body on their bayonets until the blood 
covered their clothes. A Mexican colonel rushed to them and stopped them. 

Sergeant Becera thus speaks of the Mexican loss and is corroborated by Dr. 
Sutherland: 

"There was an order to gather our own dead and wounded. It was a fear- 
ful sight. Our lifeless soldiers covered the ground surrounding the Alamo. They 
were heaped inside the fortress. Blood and brains covered the earth, the floor, 
and had spattered the avails. The ghastly faces of our comrades met our gaze. 
We removed the bodies with de.spondent hearts. Our loss in front of the Alamo 
was represented at two thou.sand killed, and more than three hundred wounded. 
The killed were generally struck on the head. The wounds were generally in the 
neck or .shoulders, seldom below that. The firing of the beseiged was fearfully 
precise. When a Texas rifle was leveled at a Mexican he was considered as 
good as dead. All this indicates the dauntless bravery and the cool self-posses- 
sion of the men who were engaged in a hopeless conflict with an enemy number- 
ing more than twenty to one. They inflicted on us a loss ten times greater than 
they sustained. The victory of the Alamo was dearly bought. Indeed the price 
in the end was well nigh the ruin of Mexico." 



1-24 



SAX ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 



The Alamo Monument. * 

FROM COL. KORD'.S MEMOIRS. 

The momiment of the Alamo at Austin, has Travis on the South front, 
Bowie on the East front, Crockett on the North front and Bonham on the West 
front. Beneath these, inscribed on the North and South fronts, bj- Mr. Nagle, 
are the following names : 

M. Autre}', J. K. Gaiwiu, Nelson, 

R. .\lleu,' Gillmore, Wm. G. Nelsou, 

M. .Undress, Hutchason C. Ostiner, 

Ayers, S. Hollaway, Pelone, 

Anderson, Harrison, " C. Parker, 

AV. Blazeby, Hieskell, X. Pollard, 

J. B. Boiirnan, J. Hayes, G. Paggan, 

Baker, Horrell, McOuerrv, 

S. C. Blair, Harris. S. Robinson, 

Blair, Haukins. Reddenson, 

Brown, J. Holland, N. Rough, 

Bowin, W. Hersie, Rusk. 

Balentine, Ingram, Robbins, 

J. J. Baugh, Joini W. Sniitli, 

Burnell, f- Jones, Sears, 

J. Butler, ']„ Johnson, C. Smith, 

J. Baker. C. B Jamison, Stockton, 

Burns, W. Johnson, Stewart, 

Bailey, T. Jackson, A. Smith, 

J. Beard, D.Jackson, J.C.Smith, 

Baliess, Jackson, Sewall, 

Bourue, G. Kemble, A. Smith, 

R. Cunningham, A. Kent, Simpson. 

J. Clark, W. King, R. Star. 

J. Cane, Kenney, Starn. 

Cloud, J. Kenny, N. Sulherlaiul, 

S. Crawford, Lewis. W. Summers, 

Cary W. Linn, J. Summerline 

W. Cnmniings, Lanio, Thimpsou, 

R. Crossman, V.'. Lightfoot, Tomlinsou, 

Cockran, Wm. Lightfoot, E. Tavlor, ) 

G. Cottle, G. W. Lynn, G. Taylor, ■ Bros. 

S. Dust, Lewis, J. Tavlor, J 

J. Dillard, J. Lonly, W.Taylor, 

A. Dickinson, \V. Mills, Thornton, 

C. Despalier, Micheson, Thomas, 

L. Davell, E. T, Mitchell, J. M. Thruston, 

J. C. Day, E. Melton, Valentine. 

J. Dickens, McGregor, Williamson, 

Devault, T. Miller, J. L. Wilson, 

W Deadruff, J. McCoy, Warner, 

J. Erving, E. Morton, D. Wilson, 

T. R. Evans, R. Mussalman, Walsh. 

D. Flovd, Millsop, Washington, 
J. Flanders, R. B. :\Ioore. W. Wells, 
W. Eishpaugh, W. Marshall, C. Wright, 
P'orsythe, Moore, R. White, 

G. Fuga, R. McKenney, J. Washington, 

J. C. Goodrich, McCaferty, T. Waters, 

J. George. J. ilcGee, Warnall, 

J. Gaston, G. W. Main, J. White, 

J. C. Garrett, G. Nelson, D. Wilson, 

C. Grimes, Nelson, J. Wilson, 

Groyn, J. Noland. A. Wolf. 

To these Mrs. Candelaria adds the following Mexicans: 

Jose Marera Cabrera, Tula, Me.xico. Jose Maria Jimenes, Mexico. 

Elijioor Elias Losoya, San .Antonio. Jacinto, from the coast of Texas. 

These make 170 slain. Dr. Sutherland stated 17"2. 

* It is also designed to rear a sliaft in the centre of Alamo Plaza, to coinnieniorale, in marble or in granite, 

the incidents of the fight of the Alamo, and of other contests of the revolntion against Mexico: the gronnd 
for this monument lias already been set aside by the city council of San Antonio. 



Till': CorXTV RI'CORDS. 1'25 

The County Records. 

The expression "luiiitiiiK H up in the records" is an apt phrase. It must 
liave been coined by a man who could aj^preciate the similarity of the keen feel- 
ing of the chase with that ardor that an elusive fact arouses in one when it is traced 
and followed from document to document until — ping ! and you have it on the 
point of your Kaber. It is almost like the pig sticking of India — for "facts are stub- 
born things." Many an enjoyable ' 'run" has been made in the County Vault, with 
what measure of success we leave the reader and critic to judge. If our bag is 
not full and we fail to obtain a mede of admiration for good sport, we still have 
the relish of the pursuit, not to speak of the remembrance of the encouragement 
and help that has ever generously been accorded by that Nimrod of the records, 
Mr. Thad. Smith. To him our thanks are due for many a hint. His aid was found 
invaluable. His intimate knowledge of the vast amount of writing stowed 
away enabled us to take many a short cut. The ta.sk we set ourselves is all but 
completed and .space onl}- allows of the merest mention of so much that would 
make the most interesting reading if intelligently edited and compiled. Suffice 
it tosaj- that there is material enough and to .spare to weave either history or 
romance interminable. Romance of real events and life, stranger than the 
strangest fiction. Deeds, documents, proclamations, letters, wills, .statements, 
dispatches, grants and agreements, in fine every form of documentary evidence 
relating to the doings of Eexar and its restless children for a hundred and fiftj' 
years. 

Here, a document relating to deep water 0:1 the coa.st — not by any means a 
new question it appears for it speaks of the ex])loration of Matagorda and Arau- 
zuzu Bays, bj- the Conde de Galvez in KiiJD, one expedition going by land and 
another by sea, when it was reported among other things that "the port of Mata- 
gorda has a good depth." Again, in June, lsn4 an expedition went forth to 
explore, and the ex])Iorers had to anchor, we are told, for three days in E.spiritu 
Santo bay. Other papers endorsed "Geographical" are doubtless of historical inter- 
est. Here, are papers relating to the partition of tlie Mi.s.sion Concepcion lands, 
with the names, sexes and condition oftlie recipients, dated A. I). 17><'i. 

The next paper is a description of a disastrous flood of the San Antonio river 
and ditches which destroyed much property, with a list of drowning casualties, 
Jul}' '^tli, ISl'.). Following is a royal decree making vaccination compulsory, 
dated May 20th 1S()4. Another census of the Missions. Decrees of Coahuila 
and Texas, 1808. Census of the Alamo, Dec. 31st, 1808. City ordinances 1827-28. 
Boundaries of Texas. Anglo-Americans and their doings. De,scri]Hion of jail 
and barracks built liy Rijiperda in ITT-'S. Then an intensely interesting letter 
from Antonio Morales, from New Orleans just after the l)attle in LSI."), concern- 
ing the i)irates of the gulf coast and the j'art they took in the fight. Ordinances 
of La \'illa Capital de San Fernando foundeil November 2.Sth, IT-iD by Antonio 
de xAviles, or rather the growing settlement was then erected into a Royal 
Presidio. Large numbers of militaiy jiapers, rosters and rolls of the S])anish 
armies. Papers relating to American colonists and their " uprisings" — prisoners 
of war. 



126 SAN ANTONIO DE BKXAR. 

This is only a partial list of the historical evidence accumulated in the county 
vault. It is sufficient to show that there is much material for an ambitious local 
historian. 

Mem. — 111 the County Records may be seen a power ol atloriiey to Domingo Bustillo from James Bowie, to 
administer James Bowie's properly and the property belonging to James Bowie's deceased wife, Urj^nla de Vera- 
mendi, during his. the said James Bowie's absence from Sau Antonio, Dated June 2!)th, 1H;!4. 

Mem, — The Saints are usually spoken of in the documents as "Seiior San Jose, etc." 



The Founding of the Town of San Fernando 



By the Canary Island Settlers, 1730-31. 

On pages 293 et seq., of the work "Apuntes para la Historia Antigua de Coa- 
huila y Texas," por Esteban L. Portillo, already mentioned in a note appended to 
the plan of Mission Concepcion, are some interesting passages of earliest San Anto- 
nio history. The author, Portillo, gives at length a document which he says is 
to be found in the City Records of Saltillo concerning certain aid and assistance 
rendered by Don Mathias de Aguirre to the sixteen families of Canary Island 
emigrants when on their way through Saltillo to the Presidio of San Antonio de 
Bexar. The document as it stands is not quite lucid, at least not from the modern 
reader's point of view. It requires some explanation here and there, and the edi- 
tor regrets that for the pre.sent he is unable to inspect the original document, 
to see if there is not "more to it." For instance, these sixteen Canary Island fam- 
ilies, numbering, as the document avers, fifty-six persons, arrived in San Antonio 
according to accepted history and tradition, on November 28th, 1730, and here 
apparently, are fifteen persons representing sixteen families, four of whom rep- 
resent one family of themselves, * already (Jan. 29th, 1731), back in Saltillo. 
witnessing to this voucher of substance delivered to them, all in order that 
Don Mathias de Aguirre may be paid. Are we to suppose that these men 
made the long weary journey back to Saltillo just for this purpose and noth- 
ing more, or was Saltillo the early trading post of this new Texas Territory and 
did they visit Saltillo for these two or more purposes? The reader must answer 
for himself this and other questions that wnll naturalh- arise upon the perusal of 
the following most interesting matter ; 

The author E. L. Portillo sa^-s : 

" By a Royal decree of 10th May, 1723, the King of Spain ordered that four 
hundred families from the Canary Islands should emigrate (pasaran) to populate 
Texas 

"I think it opportune that the names of the founders of Bexar should be 
known, after having remained forgotten for .so many years. In an official docu- 
ment existing in the Archives of the Town Hall of this cityf is to be found a 
valuable record leading back to the year 17-')1." 

*This reads something like oue of those equations in .\lgebra with which tlie good Bishop Coleiiso used to 
JiUiizIe Us.— 

t Saltillo, Mexico. 



Till' I'OUNDING OI' Till' TOWN OK SAX FKRXANDO. l-'T 

111 the town of Santiago del Saltillo ile la Nueva Vizcaia, on the twenty-ninth of January, 
lT:il, appeared present before me the Notary Public and the undersigned witnesses : 

Juan Leal Goraz, Juan Leal the boy, Antonio .Santos, Salvador Rodriguez, Josephe 
Cabrera, Manuel de Niz, Francisco Aroclia, Vicente Alvarez, Juan Delgado, Marino Melano, 
Juan Curbelo, and Phelipe Perez, Josephe Antonio, Martin Lorenzo, Ignacio Lorenzo. 
These last four comprise one family. They are sixteen families, although the Derrotero 
counted but fifteen. It was resolved here l)y Captain Don Mathias de .Xguirre, at the request 
of the above named parties, to adjust (or regulatei for sixteen families, numbering altogether 
fifty-six persons, and these families declared that having presented and represented in writing 
to Captain Mathias de Aguirre that they came without provisions of any kind and were with 
neither mules nor horses, as stated to his Honour (or to his Worship) and proved by the fact 
that the horses they had exchanged were unable to continue the journey, and the mules had 
been returned to their owners ; that in order that they might be enabled to continue the 
journey to the Presidio of San .\iitonio de Vejar* they w^ere given what was most convenient 
and necessary, namely : Eighty-six horses, as stated in detail in the account of the repartition 
that was made to each one of the families ; also, seventy-seven mules loaded with provisions 
for their maintenance during the journey from this town to San .Antonio; also, twenty-seven 
mules moreover to carry biscuit, meat and everything needed and necessary ; also, four mules 
employed to carry four panier loads (cargas de arganas), making in all the number alluded 
to, seventy-seven t mules. Also, sixteen yokes of oxen. But His E.xcellency ordered Captain 
Don Mathias de Aguirre to give only fifteen yokes, yet there was added one yoke for the four 
single men who make np a family, adding to said yoke the necessary ploughshare, an axe and 
a pickaxe. In the same manner they declared having received from the said Captain sixteen 
metales J with their grinding stones, as His Excellency had ordered the said Captain. And 
they said that the said Captain had delivered faithfully and without fault in the said Presidio 
de San .Antonio de Eejar the sixteen yokes of oxen. All of which contained in aforesaid 
arrived as expressed (or staled). Thev confessed and acknowledged to have received con- 
formably all the above-mentioned, remaining satisfied, renouncing the laws of the delivered 
(las leyes de la t ntrega) and the proof of the receipt contained in them. Leaving the payment 
of the amount to the will and convenience of His E.xcellency the Viceroy, Governor and Cap- 
tain General of this New Spain, which amount the said Don Mathias de Aguirre will give in 
detail to the officials of the Royal Treasury in the Citv of Me.xico, and to his Attorney, in 
order that he be paid the sum that would be equivalent to the above named in conformity with 
that which His Excellency would be pleased to determine and order to be executed, and in 
order that all agreed upon remain as expressed in the above named contents, they signed it, 
the witnesses being 

Joseph Ramon Ramos, Diego de los Santos and Augustin de Imenarrieta. present, and 
neighbors of this said town, and who signed it at the request of tho.se who could not sign, and 
tlio^e that could sign for themselves before me, the present Notary, I certify 

Juan Leal (ioraz, Francisco Arocha, Bisente Alvarez, Francisco .-Vntonio Santo". Juan Del- 
gado, at request of Juan Curbelo, Manuel de Niz, Juan Leal the boy, Josephe Cabrera, Salvador 
Rodriguez Josephe Padron, and the four that comprised the e.xtra family ; and for the widows 
Maria Rodriguez and Maria Meleano. (Witnesses) Diego de los Santos, Josephe Ramon Ramos, 
Augustin Imenarrieta. Before me, Jf-^^N' Sanchez de T.^gle, 

Royal Notary Public and of the Corporation. 1] 

"At that epoch the Marqui.s of Casa Fuerte was Governor in New Spain, it 
was he who ordered General Don Mathias de Aguirre to provide the settlers of 
San Antonio de Bejar with necessaries to enable them to continue their expedi- 
tion to the said Presidio. 

' Tl:c various spellings of Bexar arc indicative of tlie plasticity of Spanish pronmiciatioii. 

t The translation is not at fault, but there seems to be an error here in a<!dition on the part of some one. 

; The Mexican hand-mill for crushing grain. 

I Cabildo. 



128 



SAN ANTONIO DK BKXAR. 



"General Aguirre died before the Viceregal Government had paid him the 
value of the animals and provisions that he Iiad furnished from his own resources. 
For this reason Seiiora Ana Maria de Ahiiandos, wife of the defimct Aguirre exe- 
cuted a power in Saltillo on the first of October, of the year \~'V2, before the Pub- 
lic Notary Dn. Juan Sanchez de Tagle, in favor of Dn. Fernando de Ugarte, of 
the vicinity of the Capital of Mexico, in order to attend before the \'iceroy to the 
payment which was due her defunct husband. 

"The four hundred families, that the King had ordered to be transported to 
Texas instead of having been sent direct to that pro\iiice, were disembarked at the 
Port of Vera Cruz so that they might arrive at their destination overland, and we 
.see that only sixteen families arrived in Bexar and they were the founders of San 
Fernando contiguous to the Mission of San Antonio." 




Historical, Statistical and Interesting Dates of, and 
Relating to the City of San Antonio. 




JANUARY. 



iMrst iiniiiiinent settlement near the lieail (iftlK- San 
Antonio River, 1692. 

The tirst charter was granted to San Antonio l)_v tlie 
King of Spain in 1733 or 1734. 



La Salle landed about this time on the Texas coast 168S 

Hilward King writes "A Visit to San Antonio," A sketcli for Soribner's Magazine 

for January 1874 

Wells, Fargo it Co.'s Express opens here for the Sunset Roail 1883 



The Puebla of San Antonio de Valero is aggregated to the curacy of the town of San 

Fernando and I'residio of San Antonio ile Bexar 1793 



3 

Sam Houston conies to San Antonio for the first time about this ilale in company 

with James Howie 

One hundred nu-ii of the Third Michigan Cavalry arrested for mutiny 



1833 
1866 



Mr. W. 0. Tobin sliows his great skill as a pistol marksman by shooting an apple, at 
a ilistance of thirty feet, off the head of Thomson Green of New York, at a shoot- 
ing gallery here 1858 

Fast Commerce Street Railroad is begun 1884 

San Antonio and Aransas I'ass Railroad gets to Floresville 1886 



An Act to incorporate tlie town of Nacogdoches and other towns (in which is in- 
cluded San Antonio) herein nameil, by the Republic of Texas (2nd documentl 1837 



130 SAX ANTONIO IJl'; HKXAR. 

6 

First meeting of San Antonio I.iterar) AsstK-iation 1860 

o 

7 

Kalte\-er's drug store about (•(iinpletfd 18T2 

First passenger anil mail train goes out to Floresville 18B6 

8 

Umbrella China Trees are introduced bv Mr. C. L. Lege, Senior. He plants two on 
North Flores street as an experiment. Nearly all San Antonio Umbrella China 
trees have been propagated from these two (are still standing, 1S90) 1863 

The German English School has 265 pupils IBIO 

9 

We have a pretty cold spell, but the thermometer reads 11° above Zero 1886 

10 

General Winfield Scott Mancock is received at the Post 1884 

11 

Wild Turkeys are so plentiful in the market as to be a drug at 15 and 20 cents a piece. 1878 
We get a small snoustorni 1886 

12 

La Salle still in Texas. See March 30 1687 

Sunset Road makes connection with the Southern Pacific, 247 nnles West of San 

Antonio, 400 miles Fast of El Paso. A silver spike is driven at the meeting . . . 1883 

13 

Sam Houston is mentioned for President of the United states 1860 

14 

Act of Incorporation of the Cit\- of San Antonio (,=ith document) 1842 

"Uncle Billy" I.ytle an old Texan veteran dies 1878 

15 

Two men in a boat are descemling the San .\ntonio River to the sea. They started 

on January 13th 1886 

16 

Haas ts: Opiienlieinier's Store begun on Main St 1883 

17 

Moses Austin obtains the first colonist Hmpresario grants 1821 

The Casino on Market vSt. opened with a German performance 1858 

Contract is let for the completion of the Court House on Soledad St : . 1883 

18 

Wolfson buys the "White KU-phant". . 1886 



THE MOXTH OF JANUARY. 131 

19 

Geiit-nU Robert li. Let-'s Inrlliday 1806 

20 

l-'irst issiR- of llu' ■■ICvt-iiin.i; Li^lit" icoiitiiuiatioii of llif "Surprisi-, Set- April 3r(l| 1881 

21 

Ben Thompson is arciiiitU'd l)y tliejurj' of niurder, in the District Court 1883 

First sro""'! '""okeii for llif layiiifj of Mes(juite blocks on Alamo I'laza 1889 

22 

I'irst stouf street crossinijs are nia<le 1878 

23 

The wet weather interrupts for some weeks the laying of Mescjuite Blocks and the 

improvements on Alamo I'la/.a . 1889 

24 

An Act to incorporate the City of San Antonio was voted upon and rejected by the 

people (sixth document) 1852 

25 

Huffalo hides and iTieat from the frontier. | See May 24) .... 187T 

The "Military Headquarters" now the Maverick Hotel, are completed 1878 

26 

Su])plementary .\ct to act of Incorporation of San .Antonio (fourth ducnment) . , 1839 

27 

The buildinir of St. Mark's Iqiiscopal Church is cinnpleted. (See April 25thl .... 1875 

28 

h'oundation of San .Antonio Water Works pumj) liouse made 1878 

29 

The first Railroad train crosses the Hra/.os on the Texas and Central Road 1861 

A County election for the Pierce Railroad subsidy of 1300,000. County vote polled 
2694. Vote required 2636. 58 Majority. This vote procured the Sunset Road for 
San .\ntonio 1876 

30 

The Alamo literary Society a<lopts a plan for a Hall to be erected on the large lot 

given by Mr. S. A. Maverick for that purpose on Houston St 1872 

This Hall was never finished, it was afterwanls used as a wholesale commission store 
and was burned out. In the meanwhile it was transferred to J. H. Kampman. 
Four handsome stores were erected on this lot in March, 1890 

31 

The Menger Hotel is hos])itably opened 1859 

Ju<lge Noonan's special court is dispersed by Kickapoo Indians at Uvalde . 1869 

(Quartermaster's depot buildings at the Post are completed 1878 

Callaglian is first elected Mayor of San .Vntrjuio 1885 



132 



SAN ANTOXIO DK BKXAR. 



FEBRUARY. 

* « — ^^^s — » ' 




Santa Anna starts from Saltillo with six thousand men to invaile Texas 
First Hnglish Cricket Clnb established 



1836 
1873 



Travis in San Antonio 1836 

First R. R. train conies from San Francisco to San Antonio on the Southern Pacific 

Route. (See Februar\' 6| 1883 



Alteration to "Headquarters" hnildint; otherwise Maverick Hotel liejjun. (See 
September is. 1.S77 and April 11, 1883.) 



1882 



C. Hlniendorf, a prominent New liraunfels immigrant of '44 dies in San Antonio 1878 
Very cold and very slippery with ice. Telephone wires and trees break with the 

burden of ice caused by the wet norther from the 4th to the 6th 1883 



Mr. .Morton introduces a bill into tile Senate to constitute San .\iitonio a "Fort of 

i>^''^-ery" 1868 

First R. R. train leaves San .\ntiHiio with U. S. Officers as passengers for New York 

on the Sunset or G. H. & S. A. R. R 1877 

E. H. Terrell, U. S. minister to Belguim (1S901 is nominated for Mayor of S. A. but 

Callaghan is elected on February 14th 1887 

6 

Texas volunteers elect John S. Ford, iCol. Rip. 1 F<l\vard Burleson and F. L. Paschal 

as officers 1858 

First Water Works Mains are laid on Avenue C, in 1878 

Military Headquarters are moved to the buuilding now the Maverick Hotel on Hon.ston 

Street 1878 

First through freight train on Southern Pacific R. R. passes San .\ntonio on the 

wny to New Orleans 1883 

'•I'ncle Jack" Leslie, Texas veteran, dies 1885 



THE MONTH OF FKHRrARV. i;i> 

7 

First freight train on Railroad construction work arrives at San Antonio depot i. Sunset 1.1877 
James I'. Newconib appointed I'ostniaster 1883 

8 

A reniarkal>le political illustration published in the S. A. ICxpress, drawn b_v an Artist 

Iwonski 1868 

Hanquet given in honor of 25th anniversary of fire company No. i 1883 

9 

Kirst appearance of Lawrence Barrett in San Antonio 1883 

10 

First Jail Guard House and Military Quarters erected under Haron Ripperda on the 

Military Plaza |,old document in County records) 1773 

Mexican Royalists are defeated at Goliad and return to San Antonio 1813 

J. D. Logan, the founder of the first daily paper in Texas, "San Antonio Herald" diesl878 

Maverick Ranch fence, on Bandera Road, cut 1885 

Frank Scott sent to the Penitentiary for life for the murder of Frank Harris, this is 

one of the final chapters in the frightful Roljber Cave incidents 1887 

11 

Carl Schurz lectures at the Casino 188S 

12 

Joseph Jefferson says he will not come to San Antonio because there is no Railway. 

(See. April nth, iSS,Sl 1872 

13 

Supplementary act to supt. act to San Antonio and Mexic.in Gulf R.-iilroad approved . 1854 

14 

Supplementary act to San Antonio and Mexican Gulf Railroad enacted 1852 

15 

Sun.set Road really reaches San .\ntonio, i. e. first freight for business men received 

this day. J. H. Kanipniann receiving a carload of lumber 1877 

Two new bridges on Navarro Street tested 1879 

16 

Annexation of Texas to the United States consummated 1846 

Government property surrendered by General Twiggs at San .\ntonioto the Secession 

Convention Commissioners 1860 

The old Conception Ditch abandoned on I'agalda Street and the Mill Dam subse- 

(juently lowered 1869 

Resolution adopted in the City Council to donate forty acres to the Creneral Govern- 
ment for army purposes in the eastern portion of the City, on the site of the 
Government corral, near the present site of the Post 1870 

International Railroad arrives at last. First passenger trains arrive and de])art . 1881 



l:!4 vSAX ANTONIO DK HKXAR. 

17 

Hand of Lipan Indians only nini- miles from San Antonio, on the Castroville Road, 
trv to stampede a bunch of mules in charge of a Mexican who holds on to the 
bell mule. The Indians fail and shoot a mare with arrows, the arrows were 

afterwards gathered by Mr. Froboese and handed to Gen. Carleton 1870 

Government takes posses.sion of the Jlexican Gulf Railroad 1870 

Kdwin Booth, the actor, here again 1888 

18 

Dr. J. II. Bernard, one of Fannin's men, who was spared at the (Voliad massacre, be- 
cause of his necessity to the Me.sican wounded, revisits San .\ntonio and finds 
"all the old landmarks vanishing" 1860 

19 

Major James Longstreet in San Antonio on his way Ivast "to the States" 18S8 

Torch light procession, .S,ooo strong, in honor of the arrival of tlie Sunset, first Rail- 
road for San Antonio 1877 

Paul Wagner begins his new store on Commerce Street 187 9 

San -Antonio and Aransas Pass FIngineers make one more start for the Gulf 1885 

20 

Supt. act to supt. act to supt. act of S. A. ^c Mexican Gulf Railroad 1856 

Indians kill a wotiian and children in Bandera County 1870 

Contract let for Bexar County new jail. Work begun F'ebruary 27th 1878 

21 

Colonel Robert E. I-,ee, Lieutenant Colonel of and regiment of cavalry arrives at 

San Antonio to take charge of the Department of Te.xas 1860 

Honor^ Grenet dies 1882 

Marshall Hal. Gosling shot and instantly killed on the train at New Braunfels by 
Pitts and Yeager. Pitts and Mrs. Downes are killed. Rosa Veager and Charles 
Veager are wounded. Yeager jumps with Pitts from the train, train going at 
forty miles an hour, Yeager mashes with a stone Pitts' dead hand and escapes. 
Deputy Marshall Manning, who had made a brave fight almost alone, is wounded 
in five places 1885 

22 

Santa Anna's advanced troops arrive in San .\ntonio 1836 

Travis retires with 150 men to the Alamo 1836 

J. S. Friend advertises for two children stolen by Indians in Llano County 1888 

A meeting called to consider the advisability of petitioning U. S. Congress to divide 

Texas into two States, East and West Texas 1868 

Yeager is captured after an exciting trail , 1885 

23 

Large excursion trains are now constantlv coming in from New luigland on their wav 

West 1887 

24 

The Texans in the Alamo are summoned by Santa .Anna to surrender, he is answered 

by a cannon shot 1836 

Adams and Wicks' wagon master is killed by the Indians near Fort Mason 1870 

The County withdraws from the agreement to buibl a joint City and Covmty Hall . , J 888 



THE MONTH OP MARCH. 135 

25 

The Dreiss Ijuildiiii; <in Alamo I'la/.a is coiiipleteil 1878 

Sarah lieriihanU passes Ihrouiili (in lier way Ivasl iVniii Mexico 1887 

26 

Clock tower oil the Convent erected 1868 

First Odd Fellows' Hall on Houston Street (iedicatetl. (Kebiiill 1889-90) , . . 1878 
Work on San Antonio's first Street Railroad bc>;un to-day from San Pedro Sprinj^s to 

corner of Alamo I'laza 1878 

27 

Voakum. in his History of Texas, says, funeral honors were accorded the ashes of 
the heroes of the Alamo. "The dead had been burnt in three piles. The ashes 
were collected and placed in a neat black coffin, and interred byjuan Se^nin by 

order of the General in Chief." 1837 

Turner Hall on Houston Street is besfun 1879 

F;(hvin Hooth at the Opera House 1887 

28 

Colonel R. E. I,ee is ordered to follow Cortinas into Mexico if necessary 1860 

It is decided to enlars;e the Casino 1877 

29 

Corner stone of the first Presbyterian Church (corner of F'lores and Houston Streets) 

is lai<l with much religious ceremony 1860 

A committee on Public Improvements reports favorably on the plantint; of trees in 

Main Plaza 1870 



.rr^ft: 



'a^ 



MARCH. 



'^■'Z7^ 



^^ 




Texas Annexation Hill sij^ned by V. S. President Tyler 1845 

Marshal Hal. Go.sling receives the reward of $9730 for the capture of Polk, the ab- 

scondinjj Tennessee treasurer 1883 



136 SAX AXTOXIO DK HKXAR. 

2 

Sam Houston born 1793 

Royalists defeated here. Fourteen Royalist officers killed and the Repulilicans enter 

San Antonio 1813 

Declaration of Texan Independence 183& 

Capt. J. W. Smith arrives at the Alamo with thiny men from Gonzales 1836- 

Moody and Sankey here 188& 

3 

Col. Travis ''draws the line" in the .\lauio 183& 

Bonhani returns to the .\lamo, having been sent out with a last express message li> 

Fannin 1836 

Fitzhugh Lee lectures at the Casino on the Battle of Chancellorsville 1883 

The old "Jack Harris" and "Vaudeville" corner is burnt out 1886- 



Siege of the Alamo 183& 

Amendments to the City Charter itwelfth documenti 188& 

5 

Foundation of the Concepcion Mission 1731 

It is completed 1752 

Mi.ssiou of San Jose completed 1731 

San Juan and Kspada Missions begun 1731 

First district court held at the New Court House on Soledad street 1883 

6 

Fall of the Alamo, Sunday morning 1836 

Death of Travis, i 

Howie, -and about 170 others. 

Crockett, J 



Vasquez, with 7(11) Mexicans, takes possession of San .\ntonio. Shew of authority on 

the piirt of Mexico 1842 

I,. Uhjazzi, a Hungarian patriot of Kossuth's party, shoots himself here at the age of 

almost SO years 1870 

8 

Wolfson makes additions to his store 1880 •""' 1883 

The Government accepts a contract for the erection of the new l'"ederal lUiilding and 

I'ost Office 1888 

9 

Fir.-t fight at the .Mission Refugio (see March 10 and 11) 1836 

The Mexicans under Vasqne/, retire from .Sau .\ntonio after two days' occupation . . , 1842 

10 

Retreat of Houston from Gonzales 1836 

Second battle of Mission Refugio, Mexicans worsted (see JIarch III 1836 

11 

Retreat from Refugio 1836 

General Sherman in San .\ntonio 1882 

Ben Thomp,son and King Fisher shut and killeil at \audeville theatre, .loe Forster 

wounded in the same scrape 1884 

T. T. Raymond at tlu- Opera House 1887 



THE MONTH OF MARCH. 187 

12 

Groos' liank and Store begun 1879 

13 

La Salle killed by his nieu ^see March ;>()| 1687 

First telephone wire erected in San Antonio from City office of Water Works to the 

office at the head of the River 1878 

The buildinjj of Alameda block begun 1882 

14 

I'hil. Sheridan is here again. From Laredo this time 1883 

15 

Governor Davis is given a reception at the Meuger Hotel 1870 

16 

Population of San Antonio is estimated to be between ten and twelve thousand . . . I860 

U. Lott elected President of the S. A. & A. P. R. R 1885 

T. J. Devine, a much respected old citizen of San .-Vntonio, having occupied nianv 
high public offices, came to San .\ntonio in 1843, identified with nearly all the 
best interests of the city, dies at the age of 7S 1890 

17 

Battle of Coleta Creek, where the Te.xaus under Fannin gain the advantage 1836 

Rig overflow of the river. A man named Tannenberg is drowned on Commerce Street 

bridge. Two children of Mr. Staarke are drowned the same daj- 1865 

John Twohig lays the foundation stone of his wall on St. Mary's Street 1869 

18 

Fannin surrenders to Urea at Coleta Creek 1836 

19 

Telephone system is about to be fstablislied 1881 

20 

\ blooily battle with Comanche Indians on the .Main and Military Plazas; H~ Indians 
killed, 7 whites killed. Mrs. M. A. Maverick wa.s an eye witness of this battle 
from a place of vantage in the original Maverick Himie at the corner of Main 
Street and Soledad Street . 1840 

A party on an outing start from the Head of the River in a boat, after many difficulties 

arrive in the city by nightfall 1870 

A similar feat was performed by John and Joseph Weber (see January 15, '8()| . 1858 

21 

Nolan is defeated and killed liy Mexicans 1801 

22 

Josh Hillings is in .San .\ntonio , . 1878 

Joe Forster dies of a wound received in the Vaudeville shooting scrape of IMarch I lili 1884 



i;^.s SAN AXTOXIO DP: BEXAR. 

23 

No. 1 of the Weekly San Antonio Herald appears 1854 

No. 1 of the Daily San Antonio Herald, the oldest Texas daily newspaper, appears . . 1857 
Confederate Tannery was turned over to the " I''reednian's Bureau" 1866 

24 

The Mier prisoners are decimated bv order of Santa .\nna, 17 are shot upon drawing 

black beans at the Hacienda Salado, Mexico 1843 

25 

(Jeneral Grant and party arrive here and get a grand reception. He stajs here four 

days 1880 

Mrs. Andrea Castanou de Villanueva, alias Candelaria, petitions for « pension as being 

the last survivor ot the Fall of the .\lamo 1889 

26 

F'irst Public Meeting (of what proved to be a very bitter campaign! of the Prohibition- 

i.sts at Turner Hall 1887 

27 

The Fannin Massacre, 330 men are shot by the order of Santa Anna at Goliad . 1836 

No. 1, of Vol. 4, of San Antonio Weekly Herald is issued 1858 

The Flores Street Street Railroad is completed 1884 

The work of paving the Alamo Plaza with ine.s()uite blocks is begun in earnest . 1889 

28 

Battle of Salado. after the death of Magee, the .Americans under Kemper and Mexican 
Republicans under Menchaca, I "Rebels" I with some Indian bands, are victorious 
over the San .\ntonio Royalist troops under the officers in the command of Gov- 
ernor Salcedo 1813 

29 

A band of squaws and a notorious hostile Indian buck, Castalito, are in town, brought 

in by Mackenzie 1873 

Some skeletons are unearthed in the .\lamo Church Building 1878 

30 

La .Salle murdered by one of his own men near the Neches River 1687 

Total miles of Railroad graded on all lines in Texas 257 miles 1 | oco 

Total miles of Iron laid on this 132 miles ) -loOo 

E. H. Terrell is appointed :\Iinister to Belgium 1889 

31 

Incident in the "Magee Expedition" (see March 28): Governor Salcedo, Governor 
Herrera of New Leon, Ex-Goveruor Cordero and twelve officers of the defeated 
Rovalist troops are murdered a few miles from San Antonio in revenge by the son 
of Colonel Delgado and others. Kemper and the .'Americans leave di.sgusted at 
this barbaritv 1813 



THK MONTH OF APRIL. 



139 




APRIL. 



First case of cholera in the great epidemic (last case June 10th) 1S4:9 

Adolpli Korn, a bo}-, stolen by Indians in Llano Co., on Jan. Isl, is now advertised for 1870 



The .Mavericks sell Fort Clark for $(iO,00() .... 1884 

Dr. Carver is beaten by Penrose at San Pedro Springs in a .shooting contest 188S 



First issue of San .\ntonio Light. "Kvening Light" from January '20, l.S.SL (See 

January 20,1881.) 1883 

.Auifudnicnts to the City Cliarter enacted by the legislature ■ 1889 



Federal Court chooses rooms in the French building, Main Plaza, for Court Room . 1879 

R. .\. Procter lectures at the Casino 1885 

Water carts first used for street sprinkling 1878 



John Chinaman is here 

James Burns, well known citizen, dies of a rattlesnake's bite 



1875 
1883 



6 

President Kustamente prohibits Americans entering Texas 1830 

John L. Sullivan gives an e.xhibition at the Turner Hall 1884 

Col. Frank W. Johnson, one of the most famous Texas veterans. President of the 
Texas Veteran Association since its inauguration, second in command under 
Milam and who assumed command at the death of Milam at the storming of San 
Antonio, dies at Agua Calientes, Mexico 1884 



Mexican troops are stationed at San Antonio to check American influence 1830 

General Sheridan, W. W. Belknap secretary of war, and General Myers are tendered 

a big reception at San Pedro Springs, and " wined and dined " at the Menger . 1873 



14(J SAX NATOXIO DE BEXAR. 

8 

St. Mark's parsonage was begun 1884 

Belknap and San Antonio Rifles are ordered out to quell disturbances at Laredo, Texas . 1886 

First League base ball game played in San .'Vntonio 1888 

Dr. F. Herff, Senior, permanently settled in San .\ntonio alii.ut this date. iDr. HerlT 

came first to Texas the end of April. 1.S.I7- < 18S0 

9 

A band of 73 Indians arrive under government escort on their way to Fort Mason, Flor- 
ida. (This is not the Geronimo and Natchez band.) 1886 

10 

The .Avenue C extension of the street car Hue is begun 1880 

11 

A mass meeting is called in San .■\ntonio to devise means for removing the Kickapoo 

Indians from the Texan and Mexican frontier 1868 

Rear enlargement of the Maverick Hotel begun. (See also Sept. 15, '77, and Vah. H. '82. il883 
Joseph Jefferson plays Rip Van Winkle at the opera house 1888 

12 

F'irst Baptist Church begnu 1873 

13 

French Building is constituted the County Court House 1868 

The sixteer.th saengerfest is begun to be held here 1887 

14 

Tom Green dies in the Confederate war of a wound 1864 

A fight is arranged just outside the city limits, at the old Fair grounds, between a bull 

and a lion and a lioness. The bull gets much the best of it 1878 

Bishop Pellicer, first Bishop of San .Antonio, dies 1880 

15 

A home market for wool is established, fir.st wool bought and warehoused here .... 1859 
Capt. King, the great cattleman and land owner, dies in 1885 

16 

Uriah Lott is in San .\ntonio, talking al)out narrow gauge railroads 1880 

17 

The corner .stone of the additional infirmary at Santa Rosa Hospital is laid 1884 

Belknap Rifles go to New York 1889 

18 

Amendments to certain sections made to the city charter of San Antonio by the Six- 
teenth Legislature (11th document! 1879 

A Mexican named Martinez, suspected of horse theft, was hanged by vigilantes near 

the Medina. .After hanging six hours he was cut down by friends and he recovered . 1 882 



THE MONTH OF APRIL. HI 

19 

Session of CTrami I,o<lge of Kiii.nlits of Pythias in San Antohio, witli grand jjrocession 1887 

20 

Paris, Texas, gains tlie first prize lor the best drilled uniform clivision of the Knights of 

Pythias 1887 

21 

Battle of San .lacinlo. " Remember the Alamo." " Remember Goliad." The Mexi- 
cans under Santa Anna are routed ... . 1836 

First San Antonio Baseball Club organized. J. S. J.ockwood, pre.sident ; Russell Nor- 
ton, .secretary 1867 

First Railroad shipment of cotton into San Antonio by B. Oppenheinier 1877 

22 

Santa .Anna is cajjtured on the prairies and bronght to the Texan camp . , 1836 

23 

The first market house, hitherto known as the principal Cuartel, is established l)y the 

city 1840 

The Alamo church building is bought by the State under an Act of April 28, for 

$20,000, from the Catholic church authorities. (See May IS.) 1883 

Indians at Boerne 1870 

Moody and Sankey in town , . 1880 

24 

Losoya street is opened to intersect Commerce street . . 1872 

Dick Lombard attacks Billy Sims with a six-shooter at the Vaudeville 1884 

25 

One hundred and fifty-six Tonkaways leave for the mountains fort\- miles north under 

charge of the United States Government 1866 

St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral Church is consecrated 1881 

26 

Myriads of grasshoppers are seen overhead flying in a northwesterly direction .... 18&8 
The German English school is enlarged to accommodate 500 pupils about this date . 1870 

Terrible Indian outrage at Howard's Springs 1872 

Odd Fellows Hall on Houston street dedicated. (Since rebuilt 1889-90.) 1878 

27 

Dr. Cupples arrives in San Antonio 1844 

Bexar County Court House rebuilt on Soledad street 1882 

Susan J. Hannig I widow of Lieutenant Al. Marion Dickinson, who was killed in the 
Alamo) revisits the Alamo with H. B. Andrews, Bishop Quintard of Tennessee, and 
some early Texan friends. She and her daughter were the sole white survivors 
of the fall of the Alamo 1881 

28 

General Twiggs is unjustly court-martialed 1858 

Cornerstone of Bexar County Jail laid . . 1878 



142 . SAN ANTONIO DE BKXAR. 

29 

The iild central ilome of Sail Feniaudo Catheiiral is ileiiiolished 1872 

The Maverick Hotel just opened 1882 

The Odd Fellows Cemetery dedicated 1883 

(ieiieral Schofield visits San Antonio 1885 

30 

Edward Miles and Antonio Menchaca, two very well known "old San Jacinto heroes." 

were in town at this date 1873 

The Taxpayers vote $150,000 for the new City Hall and other improvements . . . 1887 



,'~\^ /^. 



MAY. 



^^' 



isy 




The removal of the Alamo Mission "San Jose del Alamo " is ordered by the Marquis 
Valero, viceroy of New Spain, from the Rio Grande to its present site, and 
named "San Antonio de Valero." (This Mission was orisiinally founded on the 
Rio Grande in 1708.) 1718 



Guenther's second or upper mill begun ■ 1868 

Major Wa.sson "loses" $:i4,000, for which on the Stli he is charged with embezzlement 1883 

San Antonio and Aransas Pass Depot located 1885 

Chapel at the Concepcion Mission, as repaired, is rededicated to our Lady of Lourdes 

by Bishop Neraz 1887 

3 

A young bull buffalo is run down through Commerce street by a cowboy horseman 

from the plains 1869 



Mexican Gulf Railroad compromise bonds signed by the County Clerk 



1882 



Maverick Bank building, corner of Alamo I'laza and Houston street, is begun . 1884 



THE MONTH OF MAY. 143 

6 

W. W. Kflkuap, Secretary of War, orders work on the Croveniiiient Military Dejjotto 

be begun, and directs that the appropriation be applied for 1875 

The (irenet Alamo property is sold for $40,200 to Hugo & Schnieltzer. (This prop- 
erty was condemned by the City Council on the same date 1889.) 1884 

7 

General Worth died at the James residence on Commerce Street. (His remains were 
taken to Greenwood Cemetery, thence to New York. His monument is promi- 
nent on Madison Square. New York.) 1849 

Corner stone of Groos Bank buildin;; laid . 1879 

8 

The foundation stone of the Alanu> Mission Church laid 1744 

Death of F. P. Giraud 1877 

Right Rev. J. C. Neraz consecrated second bishop of San Antonio 1881 

(General Stanle)-, new Department Commander, arrives here . 1884 

9 

Colonel Reeves surrenders with .SIS soldiers to Van Dorn, San .\ntonio 1861 

Organization of a Jockey Club . 1868 

Victor Considerant, returns to France 1868 

10 

The City tiovernnient moves to the French building on Main Plaza 1879 

Terrell Hlock. Presidio Street, begun 1881 

11 

The earliest agitation for Water Works begins about now 1870 

San Antonio Street Railroad Company is inaugurated 1874 

12 

Captain J. S. Ford engages in a fierce fight with Indians on Canadian River, New 

Mexico. (Colonel "Rip" again. 1 1858 

13 

The first foundation stone of San Fernando Church, l)etween Main and Military 
Plazas, was laid. (It was rebuilt and reopened with much ceremony October 

6. 1S73.) 1734 

F'lrst marriage of .\mericans in San .\ntonio, F. L. Paschal to Miss I". Roach of Soutli 

Carolina 1844 

14 

Potter anil McDaniels receive a life sentence for murder and mail robberies. Federal 

Court. (See June 5 and July i.) 1885 

15 

New Braunfels is founded by Prince Solins and a number of German families . , 1845 
Van Dorn has another great fight with Indians on the Wichita expedition in which 
fifty Indians are killed. P"itz-Hugh I.ee was reported mortally wounded in 
this fight 1859 



144 SAN ANTONIO l)K BEXAR. 

16 

Military telegraph coiiipleteii to San Antoniii 1876 

Tlie sale of the Alamo Church is tinally consummated at Austin for #20,000. (Ne- 
gotiations had been pending since February 18. 1S8H. when the committee of the 

Legislature decided to report favorably to buy. See .April 2.3rd.) 1883 

Much building going on at this date in San .Antonio. Stumberg's, Winslow's, anil 
Kampmann's (opposite the Maverick Hotel), and other new blocks of stores go- 
ing up on Houston Street. Real estate transactions have been very active this 
spring 1890 

17 

Important meeting in relation to Columbus and San Antonio Railroad 1867 

Ignatius Coyle smashes the image of Saint Theresa at Alamo Church and is arrested 

by Captain Tom Rife 1887 

18 

Five Indians attack a camp six miles from Bandera 1867 

First ground broken for San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad 188S 

The Garza Block, an historic corner, sold for J;r>l,;{00 1889 

19 

Terrible hailstorm or shower of ice ; pieces weighing 2}4 pounds fall, doing upwards 
of J;IOO,00() worth of damage in the city and neighborhood, besides ruining 
crops 1868 

Belknap Rifles get second prize for company drill at Austin. San Antonio Rifles get 

fifth prize. Captain Badger, San Antonio Rifles, gets first prize for best captain . 1888 

20 

D'.Alarconne, Spanish Governor of Texas, writes to De la Harpe, French Repre- 
sentative, claiming all the lands West of the Nassonites. (See July Sth.) . , . . 1719 

Vaccination made compulsory by order of the King of Spain. (County Records, old 

document. ) 18 04 

21 

A band of thirty-seven Digger Indians in town on their way to their reservation 

Nome Lackwa . . 18S9 

22 

A sea-gull was found on the .Arsenal grounds. suppo.sed to have been killed by hail on 

the 19th 1868 

San Antonio Rifles organized . 1884 

23 

.\n election held to decide if bonds for 1.50,000 shall be issued for additional school 
buildings and other facilities for education, the income of permanent fund to go 
to the sinking fund of bonds. The proposition is carried by a majority of 329 . . 1885 

24 

Dry ISufi'alo meat, "just from the plains, " is on sale in , San .Vnttniio. (Seejan. 2,=;th. ) . 1874 

25 

First Ma.ss said at Mission San I'rancisco on the coast 1 690 



THI-: MONTH OF MAY. 14.'> 

26 

San Antonio's first velocipede is seen careerinj; around 1869 

21 

The cattle trail to Kansas is now in constant public use 1873 

28 

Archbishop Odin die<l at Ambiech, France. (He was formerly Bishop of Galveston 
and this district, and took a lively interest in San Antonio and Texas — an old 
Texas Bishop.) 1870 

29 

Bill Hart, a notorious gaudjler and desperado, was killed with two of his companions 
on Alamo Street in the Superveille House, behind Wolf & Marx's store, by the 
Vigilance Committee, headed by Field.strop, who was also killed. Bill Hart, 
Miller, Wood killed on one side ; Fieldstrop killed and Taylor wounded on the 
Vigilance Committee .side. No killiny, perhaps, in San Antonio, ever created so 
much excitement as this 1857 

Orsjan for the Episcopal church is built in St. Mark's 1875 

30 

F'our Mexican hor.se thieves are found hanging on a tree near San Jose ;\Ii.ssion — 

probably more Vigilance Committee work 1858 

31 

San .Antonio is last becoming a market for wool. (Total wool brought in for year 
1S74, 400,0(10; total wool brought in for year 1875, 000,000. Merino l'S"i cents, 
187o: lowest Mexican grades 17 cents, 187.').') \ 874 

Belknap Rifles take third prize for company drill, San .Antonio Rifles take fourth 
prize, Staacke, of San .Antonio Rifles, takes first prize for best drilled man, 
all at Washington, D. C 1887 

(rround is now being broken for the Southwestern Texas Lunatic Asylum, about five 

miles South of the city, on land ilonateil for th.-it purpose by the city 1890 








JUNE. 

' « — £^5 — » ' 



.An In<lian fight takes place near Hondo : two whites and several Indians killed. The 
Indians are found to possess breech-loading rifles, which "had been exchanged 
for stolen horses" 1872 



146 SAN ANTON U) DE BEXAR. 

2 

First Volksfest held 1882 

Joe Brannon, another of the gau<j, killeil 1886 

3 

The bones of Fannin's men Ijuried with honors of war liy order of General Rnsk at 

Fort I^a Bahia on the San Antonio River 1836 

Bids on the new Federal buildinjf 1886 

4 
The Belknap and Maverick Rifles are in Galveston to-day. iBelknaps win first prize 

on June Uth.) 1889 

5 

Battle of Alazan. San Antonio ; .Spanish Royalists defeated ; one thonsand Royalists 

killed and wounded, ninety-four .\niericans killed 1813 

New Fire Engine arrives. A. A. Lockwood chief of the Fire Company 1858 

McDaniels, the robber, makes a marvelous escape from the County Jail in broad da} - 
lijiht, cuttinu; his shackles with a saw made of a bootspring. (See July 1 and 
May 14) 1858 

6 

Beautiful Parhelia are seen. "First a halo of prismatic colors, afterwards an im- 
mense red belt that stretched from North to South of equal width all along" . . . 1870 

7 

First Steam Fire Engine arrives in the city 1868 

Very noisy Prohibition meeting on Government Lot 1887 

The Menv property is bought by the County Commissioners 1888 

8 

Ten loads of buffalo hides are in town from " out west " 1877 

Alamo Mouument Association chartered. (This Association held its first meeting on 

February 27, 1S79, organized March (i, 1879.) 1879 

9 

Guenther's third mill begun about this date 1878 

10 

La.st case of Cholera in San Antonio of the Great Epidemic of 1849 

11 

First consignment of fruit from Tampico, Mexico, via In<lianola. Bananas, plantains 

etc., sold by auction by F. L. Paschal 1859 

San Antonio Rifles take first prize at Paris, Texas, for best company drill 1887 

12 

Adams and Wickes' train attacked by Indians on Devil's River 1869 

Skeleton of Frank Harris unearthed in the Robber's Cave at Helotes. His saddle and 
remains are identified. This is a last chapter in the history of the notorious 
robber gang . . 1886 



THK MONTH OF JUNE. 147 

13 

Crockett Hlofk on Alamo I'laza lit-gun 1882 

14 

Mason County offers $o()0 for any liostile savage delivereil dead or alive at the Mason 

Connty Court House doors. Hig Foot Wallaee thinks he can make about $.')0(t . . 1872 



15 

Indian raid only two miles from San Antonio ; sever.il nudes stolen and one shot wilh 



1870 



16 

An Iron Hridge arrives 1869 

17 

Mrs. M. .A. Maverick cauie to San Antonio. i;\Irs. Maverick is the widow of one of 
the best known old time Texans, S. A. Maverick. Mr. Maverick came to Te.xas 
before the fall of the Alamo, and narrowly escaped perishing with Travis' devoted 
liand and he took an active part in many stirring incidents of the city's history) 1838 

The Cremation Society elects its officers 1885 

18 

Menger Hotel foundations are now being begun by Wm. A. Menger. Hotel to cost 
51t),0{KI, J. II. Kampmann builder. Many additions have been made to this 
Hotel since this date 1858 

19 

I'onndatiou laid of St. Mary's Street Iron Foot Bridge. \This street was widened at 
Commerce Street end in January, 1890, it being merely an alley at that point 
before) 1869 

20 

A second District Court is established in San .\utonio about this date and \V. W. King 

is the first appointed Judge (on 22nd) 1890 

21 

Work on the Ouartenna-ster's Depot and Water Tower is begun by Braden & 
.Angus. Height of Tower 8.S feet. United States Congress had appropriated 
f 100,0(111 for work on this Depot 1877 

Oscar Wihie lectures here 1882 

22 

San Antonio Street Railroad is formally opened by a party of gentlemen under the 
leadership of Colonel Belknap. They leave in a car at Northwest corner of Alamo 
Plaza for San Pedro Springs, Colonel H. H. .-Xdams acting as driver of car No. 1 . 1878 

Hildebrand is brutally murdered by Thumm at Castroville. Thumm is sent to the pen- 
itentiary for twenty-five years for this 1887 

Augustus Belkna]) dies 1889 

23 

Corner stone of Klliott Memorial Hall laiil . 1889 



14.S 



SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 



24 

Agitation for more sidewalks is now the order of the ria\ . . . 1870 

25 

Texan Congress passes a bill appniviui; the annexation of the Republic of Texas to the 

I'nited States 1845 



26 

Fort Velasco taken liv Texans under John Austin from Ugartechea 



1832 



27 

SIcDaniels and Potters, two very desperate stage robbers and murderers, are eaptureil , 1884 

28 

Soledad Block, corner Houston and Soledad Streets, begun 1883 

Belknap Rifles hold Memorial services in nu-nu)r\- of Colonel Augustus Belkna]i and 

Major John Cresson 1889 

29 

The snbscri])tion for the Northwest Klxteiision of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass 

Railro.ad now reaches to $82,000 1886 

30 

Adams and Wickes' train attacked by Indians near Howard's Springs ; loO mules 

stolen and one teamster killed ... 1 869 

The Belknap Rifles at Lampa.sas win this month the fir.st of a long series of victories, 

second prize for company drill 1885 



JULY. 




fM#ae. 



'wmi^^ 




San Antonio is first designated a Money Order office 1869 

McDaniels, escaped convict and highwayman is shot and killed by Depnt\' rnilcd 
States Marshals Van Riper and Stevens at Ben Coffee's goat campabout eight miles 
from Boerne, in Bexar County, whither he had gone to see his sweetheart. He 
wrote a threatening letter to the Daily PIxpress on June 19th. (See also June 
o and May 14.) 1885 



152 SAN ANTONIO 1)K BKXAR. 

3 

The Menger hotel is already beinfj (riilarxefl (see January .'{1 i 18S9 

4 

Five Indians are seen on the Bandera road by Walter Tvnan 18T0 

I'rohiljition is defeated bv a large majority . . 188T 

5 

San Antonio ^K: Aransas Pass Railroad is lirst orj^anized . 1884 

6 

Masonry work of Commerce street bridge is beini; done 1870 

7 

The troops were withdrawn fn>m the Sati Antonio Post (see August :iH) 1873 

8 

Jacques Hainline hanged here accordiug to law, for the murder of Peter Maddox 1879 

9 

The Kampinaun, Steves and Beunett buildings are now going up on the south side of 

Commerce street 1870 

10 

The Mexican cart and teamster troubles of Goliad and Karnes counties excite consider- 
able public attention 1857 

11 

Belknap and San Antonio Rifles return from i;alveston 1886 

12 

The city charter passes the legislature 1870 

13 

Stephen Fuller Austin arrives in San Antonio 1821 

Act of incorpt)ration of San Antonio (ninth document) 1870 

14 

French building, southeast corner of Main i)laza, is nearly comi)leted 1858 

15 

The Alamo KifU-s resolve to disband, but did not do so until a short time afterwards 187 8 

Opening of the Confederate and F>deral re-union at San Pedro Springs , . 1888 

16 

Notorious counterfeiters arrested and manv stolen drafts and coin dies are found in a 

jewelry store on Commerce street ... 1859 

17 

David Crockett born 1786 



THE MONTH OF AUfirST. 



151 



Tlie Santa Rosa hos])ital is in nroL'r 



26 



27 



1869 



1889 



28 



Am arniad.llo is caught by some clnl.lren ,n the eastern suln.rbs 

Captain W. G. Tobin dies . «ein suln.rbs jgg^ 

Ground broken for the Club and Opera hot;se on' Alamo plaza ^^^^ 

1 o8o 
29 

Corner stone of Tnnity Methodist Episcopal church laid 

30 

'^""'^mirr::::::;''^^"'^'^ --' '-'-^^^ '--^--"-'^ e„con„ter.ith a bear in 



1879 



31 

Senator and General Rusk, one of the chiefs nf t), r 

cides throu„.h grief for the death of h!s Jk '"^^'^ "^^ ^°^ "'' 



ejjendence. sui- 



1859 



1857 




xtz: 



AUGUST. 



San Antonio Herald, daily edition. No. 11:^ „f Vol. 1 is 



file issue). 



ssued (this is the first existin.. 



Kattle at \acog,loches between Texans and Mt 



1857 
1832 



Belknap battalion formed 



1889 



1"'" SAN ANTONIO UE BEXAR. 

13 

Incii.-m raid (by Kicnvasi at Fiederickst)iir>; 1 Rft? 

The Daily Herald discontinues to be publislud | Qfifk 

14 

Deaili (if l''alher Johnston, a well known Catliolir priest of this city 1885 

15 

The Alamo Insurance Company, a local c-ouipaii\ , formeil i ccq 



16 

Avenue C is jrraded 

Curb hvilrauLs are first established 



1878 
1878 



H. Brauer is mysteriou.sh- murdered at the San I'edro Sprinj;.-, | OOCl 



17 

Act of iucor])oralion of City of San Antonio (i-ii;litli document) 



1856 



18 

|7">, 0(10 additional is voted for quarters and barracks at the Post 1885 

19 

The < )ld Lewis mill stopped. I"or nearly 20 years this mill had su])]ilied ground corn 

to San Antonio 1869 

This mill was rebuilt and still "goes round" 1890 

20 

Goliail citizens lake justice into their own hands and consummate terrible vengeance 

on horse thieves and bandits. They haug and shoot six and arrest others . . 1858 

The building which preceded the new Kampmanu bank building and took the place of 
the original Maverick House, corner of Main and Soledad streets, is now being 
built 1869 

21 

J. H. Kani])mann's bank building, corner of .Main and Soledad streets, is begun . 1883 

22 

The work on tlie I'ederal b\iilding. Alamo i)laza, is busily going on when J. R. Gordon 

pronounces some of the work done defective 1888 

23 

Sam Hou.ston dies at Huntsville 1863 

Another noisy prohibition meeting on C.overnnunt F.ot. The campaign is now grow- 
ing bitter 1887 

24 

R. Bragance iTexan veteran! dies here . . 1886 

25 

The X'ance building on Houston street was the old military lu-ad(|uarters l)efore llu- war. 1859 



THE MONTH OF JITLY. 14i> 

2 

A iiiinute of the City Records this day reads as follows: "In consequence of the 
Council and citizens generally being engaged in making preparations to repel the 
aggressions of the Indians there was no meeting of the Corporation this day. 
Signed, W. P. Delmour Secretary. July 2nd" 1838 

Buildings now occupied by Goldfrank. Frank S: Co.. Main Street, are about half 

completed 18T0 



H. Vuakum completes \'uluuie I. History of Texas iPublished IHnH] 1834 

Rainfall in San Antonio from Saturday, July ;->rd, midnight, to Tuesday morning. July 

6th, is fourteen and a half inches 1869 

The old front of San Fernando is torn down 1873 

4 

Annexation Bill pas.sed by the Convention of Delegates at Austin . 1843 

5 

The present 1 1891)1 Iron Bridge on Commerce street is liegun 1881 

Scholz's new Palm Garden is opened with a concert 188S 

6 

Joseph Moore, wife and children, are killed in their wagon by Indians at Bandera. One 

child escaped 1873 

7 

Jose Cordova hanged according to law at the Bexar Couutx- Jail for the murder of R. 

Trimble 1879 

First game of Polo between Blues and Reds (another game on July 9) 1883 

8 

De la Ilarpe replies to D'Alarconne's letter and claims the Nas.sonite lands for France 1719 

9 

A quiver ol arrows and a bow is exhibited at the San Antonio Express office as a 

curiosity. The trophy was captured in the "upper Country." 1870 

Cornerstone of County and City Hospital laid 1888 

10 

Ten trt)ops of I'nited States Cavalry ordered out for Indian service 188S 

11 

Indians reported eleven miles from the city 1870 

Ben Milam's grave is marked by a stone on Washington Square Park 1878 

Bias Herrera, Texan veteran, dies 1878 

.lack Harris is shot by Ben Thompson in the saloon at "Jack Harris' corner" .... 1882 

12 

Groos' house on "Alameda" street begun i.\lameda now V,. Commerce street) . 1872 

Stnnniforth is murdered with two bullets in his brain as he sleeps 1885 



THE MONTH OF Al'(UTST. 153 

18 

Battle of Medina — Mexican Royalists are victorious under Arreilondo 1813 

19 

The Mexicans are jfrowinj; very jealous of the growing influence of Americans in Texas 

about this time 1829 

20 

Arredondo enters the city in triunipli; 7(K) of llie citizens are imprisoned, eighteen die 

of suffocation out of 300 in one house; the remainder are shot 1813 

The "Great August Storm;" wind from the northeast; many thousands of dollars dam- 
age done to roofs and houses in the city, anil the people are had ly scared 1886 

21 

Delegates to Denver Deep Water Convention are selected 1888 

22 

Tin roof workers are autocratic just now (see August 20l 188 6 

23 

Indian raid at Castroville 1867 

Third Volksfest was almost abandoned on account of the adverse decisions of the city 

attorney (see October 22) 1884 

Jim :\IcCoy hanged at County Jail for the murder of .Sheriff McKinney 1889 

24 

Treaty of Cordova perfected I)y which Mexico separates from Spain 1821 

Vance & Bros, give one lot of land, for the erection of an Episcopal place of worship, to 
St. Mark's congregation. Mr. ,S. A. Maverick also donates four city lots for 
church purposes 1858 

25 

I'erd. Niggli shot at Castroville by Sheriff Thumm. He dies .\ugust 30. Thiniini 

refuses to surrender to San Antonio officers subsequently 1885 

26 

First experiments in raising "Chinese Sugar Cane," or Sorghu, now known a.s Sor- 
ghum, mentioned in the Herald 185T 

Right Rev. Bi.shop Klliott, Episcopal Bishop of Western Texas, dies 1887 

27 

The Street Railway Company begins its extension to the International depot 1880 

tVreal fire at Hugo & Schmcltzer's on Commerce Street; very heavy loss; three men 

severelv burned: two subse(|uently die of tlieir injuries 1883 

28 

Mexico revolts against Spain to become a Republic 1821 

The Military Post is re-eslablisheil here isee .\ugnst 7i 1875 

A plague of crickets is upon us 1888 



154 



SAN ANTONIO UK liKXAR. 



29 

The way we got ice in those days; an advertisement announces, ••Arrival of Ice 

Wagons from the Bay." 185T 

Another advertisement (Saturday i: "The HI I'asT mail will close next Tuesila\ morn- 
ing at nine o'clock 185T 

30 

Henry Karnt-s, one of the old leniarkalile trappers and pimieers, raised in Tennessee, 
and was at the battle of Cmicepcion, dies m the nunith of August in Sau Antonio. 
(Karnes County gets its name from him. i _ 184:0 

(^eorge Hoeruer dies .... 188^ 



31 

San Antonio Gas Works are inaugurated about this date .... 
Two car loads of ponies are shipped from San Antonio to England 



1859 
1877 



^^=^^=±^ 



SEPTEMBER. 



^-£^<5=^ 




San Antonio and Monlerej- this day connected bv railroad 1882 

Letter carrier system established 1882 

Joske Bros, introduce copper pennies into their business. (They had previously lieen 

introduced into the city on December 17, 1886.) 1887 

Copper pennies are very little used ! 1890 



Very brilliant .Aurora Borealis seen here (see September 24* 1859 

First case of the Cholera epidemic was near Concepcion Mission. (Last case October 

12, IKOO. Total fatal cases 202. 1 1866 

Mr. S. A. Maverick dies. (Texan pioneer of early thirties, was intimately identified 

with the city and .state's history and interests for upwards of 40 years.) 1870 



Comaiu'he Indians troul)lesoiue around the city. Two surveyors were killed on the 

Leon Creek. The Indians were followed and seven killed 1838 



TIIK MONTH Ol' S1vPTP:mbER. 



I0.5 



Comer stone of Joske's building, cornt-r of Cniinuene aii<l Alamo stri-ets, laid 



1888 



Sam Houston fleeted President ol tlie ReiuiMic of Texas 

Six Mexieans found lian^in.t; on trees on the Ciliolo Crei'k, near Hoerne 



1836 
1868 



6 

Stephen F. Austin returns to Texas about this <late, after a prolonged eiiforeed deten- 
tion since April or May, 1S33, in Mexico. ( He is shortly elected Ccneral of tl>e 
Forces at Gonzales, 1835, and says : " 1 fully lioped lo have found Texas at peace 
and in tranquility, but regret to lind it in commotion * * and threatened 

with immediate Uostilitie.s. " The Texas Revolution is now beginning in earnest. I 1835 

The old ■' Hat Cave " Court House, northwest corner Military plaza, begun 1850 

7 

A Southern Pacific Railroad is being strongly urged at this early date 1857 

Bob Augustin, who came up from Goliad with others of his kidney to join vSibley's 
Brigade, is arrested by Wm. Lyons for disorderly conduct, upsetting anil over- 
riding the chile stands on Main Plaza (see September i)th) 1861 

8 

Meeting held to devise means of turning the 01 nios creek into the .\la/.an to prevent 

overflows in the San .\ntonio River 1868 

9 

Bob Augustin is released by the Mayor, but is taken in charge by a determined mass 
of citizens and one of the most exciting lynchings in the histor)' of the city fol- 
lows. Bob is hanged on a tree at the southeast corner of Military Plaza at the en- 
trance of Flores street (this tree was grimly named *La Ley de Mondragon) at the 
hands of a vigilance committee and by the unanimous consent of a large mass of 
citizens, who had concluded that Bob was a bad man (see September 7, 1861) . . .1861 

O.x carts are seeing their great day 187 

Saengerfest in San .\utonio 1870 

10 

The Jewish Synagogue on Travis Park is dedicated 1875 

11 

General WoU and his Mexican army invests San .\utonio (also General Vasquez, 

March 7, l84:2i 1842 



h.\ I,i-;v i)K M(j.\i)K.\c;;(i.\ — I'"lokks Stkeet. 



A little tree once grew 
In a street of San Autone, 

That little tree we knew 

.^s " La ley de Mondragon," 

Which in a street of flowers 
Put forth no blossom fair. 

Yet by the Holy Powers 
A ghastly fruit it bare. 



Whose seed was sudden death, 
Whose stem a tight drawn rope. 

The Vigilante saitli 

'■ Well founded is the hope 

That the law of Mondragon 

.Ml Texas will endorse 
That ' here in .San .■Vntone 

Vou inusl not steal a horse.' " 



lo6 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 

12 

Sixth Animal Fair is held 1875 

Lone Star Brewery is opened . -1884 

Additional Barracks and Quarters are to be liiiilt at the New Post. Contract let Sep- 
tember 13 1888 

13 

A German named Tliulle is killed l>y Indians at Castroville 1867 

At an election held this day 11.566 votes for and 46 against) the Columbus or "Sunset" 
route is subsidized by the city and county $.500,000. (This did not materialize, see 
January 29thi ..,'....'., 1873 

14 

Celebration in San .\ntonio of the one hundrtclth anniversary of Humboldt's birtlida\ 1869 

A Light .\rtillery Company reorganized, Stanley Welch, Captain 187 

Pancoast's building on Commerce street begun 1880 

Through communication with Saltillo completed 1883 

Last stone of the New Federal Building on Alamo Plaza laid 1889 

15 

Great "Indianola" storm on the coast, 821 lives lost at Indianola, which city is de- 
stroyed I Herald sa\-s .September 17? I 1875 

The Military Headquarters be.gun (now Maverick Hotel, see also .\pril 11 and Feb- 
ruary 8l 1877 

The Texas .State Univer-sity is opened at .Austui with Id", students 1883 

Belknap Rifles inaugurated 1884 

16 

Mexican Independence Day. Don Miguel Hidalgo proclaims in favor of libert\ 1810 

The Colored Catholic Church is dedicated by Bishop Neraz 1888 

The corner stone of the City Hall. Military Plaza, is laid 1889 

17 

Captain Hays defeats General W'oll on the Salado creek. Captain Dawson's command 

loses 36 men on the same day. General WoU retires to the Rio Grande 1842 

18 

George 'Wilkins Kendall advertises "Merino Bucks;" this is probably one of the 

earliest introductions of this lireed into Texas 1857 

19 

First issue of the San .\ntonio Daily Times 1880 

20 

St. Joseph's Church is almost finished 1872 

21 

'While yellow fever is raging at Houston and Galveston there is none in San .\ntonio 1867 
The ,San .\ntonio Daily Herald is sold by auction 1878 

22 

The Dullnig bldck, corner nf Commerce anil .^lamo streets, is begun 1883 



THE MONTH OF AUGUST. 153 

18 

Battle ul Medina — Mexican Royalists are vicloriinih under Arredimdo 1813 

19 

The Mexicans are growing very jealous of the gri>vvii\g inllumce of Americans in Texas 

about this time 1829 

20 

Arredondo enters the city in triumph; 7(UI of the citizens are imprisonetl, eighteen die 

of suffocation out of 300 iu one house; the remainder are shot 1813 

The "Great August Storm;" wind from the northeast; many thousands of dollars dam- 
age done to roofs and houses in the city, and the people are badly scared. . . . 1886 

21 

Delegates to Denver Deep Water Convention are selected 1888 

22 

Tin roof workers are autocratic just now (see August 20| 1886 

23 

Indian raid at Castroville 1867 

Third A'olksfest was almost abandoned on account of the adverse decisions of the citv 

attorney (see October 22) 1884 

Jim McCoy hanged at Cmmty Jail for the murder of Sheriff McKinney 1889 

24 

Treaty of Cordova perfected by which Mexico separates from Spain 1821 

Vance & Bros, give one lot of land, for the erection of an Episcopal place of worship, to 
St. Mark's congregation. Mr. .S. A. Maverick also donates four citv lots for 
church purposes 1858 

25 

Ferd. Xiggli shot at Castroville by Sheriff Thumm. He dies August 30. Thunim 

refuses to surrender to San Antonio officers sulxsequently 188& 

26 

First experiments in raising "Chinese Sugar Cane," or Sorgho, now known .is Sor- 
ghum, mentioned in the Herald 185T 

Right Rev. Bishop Klliott, Episcopal Bisho]) of Western Texas, dies . 1887 

27 

The Street Railway Coinjiany begins its extension to the International depot 1880 

Great fire at Hugo & Schmeltzer's on Commerce Street; very heavy loss; three men 

.severely burned; two subsetjuently die of their injuries 1883 

28 

Mexico revolts against Spain to become a Republic 1821 

The Military Post is re-established here (.see .\ugust 71 1875 

.\ plague of crickets is U])on us . 1888 



154 



SAN AXTOXKl DE BKXAR. 



29 

The way we got ice in those days; an advertisement announces, "Arrival of Ice 

Wagons from the Bay. " 1857 

Another advertisement iSalurdavi: "The ICl Paso mail will close next Tnesdavmorn 

ing at nine o'clock 1857 

30 

Henry Karnes, one of the old remarkable trappers and pioneers, raised in Tennessee, 
and was at the battle of Concepcion, dies in the month of August in San Antonio. 
(Karnes County gets its name frimi him. 1 | 840 

George Hoerner dies ,,. 1885 



31 

San Antonio Gas Works are inaugurated al)out this date . 

Two car loads of ponies are .shipped from San Antonio to Englam 



1859 
1877 



^^^fez 



SEPTEMBER. 



T=2^g=r' 







IK 






San Antonio and Monterey this day connected by railroad 1882 

Letter carrier system established . 1882 

Joske Bros, introduce copper pennies into their business. (They had previously lieeii 

introduced into the city on Decemlier 17, 1886.) 1887 

Copper pennies are very little used 1890 



Very brilliant .Aurora Horealis seen here (see September '2^] . 1859 

First case of the Cholera epidemic was near Concepcion Mission. (Last case October 

12, !«()(). Total fatal ca.ses 292.1 1866 

Mr. S. A. Maverick dies. (Texan pioneer of early thirties, was intimately i<lenlilied 

with the city and state's history and interests for upwanls of 40 years.! 1870 



Comanclie Indians troublesome around the city. Two surveyors were killed C'li the 

Leon Creek. The Iiidians were followed and seven killed 1838 



THE MONTH OF vSKPTEMHER. 1 ■")•'> 

4 

Corner stone of Joske's liiiildiiig, corner of Conuneri-e and Alamo streets, laid . . 1888 

5 

Sam Houston electeil President of the Repulilic of Texas ... 1836 

Six Mexicans found liau,L;in,t; on trees on the Ciljolo Creek, near Boerne 1868 

6 

Stephen F. Austin returns to Texas about this date, after a prolouj^ed enforced deten- 
tion since April or May. lSo8, in Mexico. ( He is shortly elected (General of the 
Forces at Gonzales, 1835. and says : " I fully hoped to have found Texas at peace 
and in tranquility, but rej;ret to find it in commotion * * and threatened 

with immediate hostilities." The Texas Revolution isnow be.<(innin,L; in earnest, i 1835 

The old "Bat Cave " Court House, northwest corner Military plaza, be,gun 1850 

7 

A Southern Pacific Railroa<l is being strongly urged at this early ilate 1857 

Bob Augu.stin, who came up from Goliad with others of his kidney to join Sibley's 
Brigade, is arrested b\' Win. I^yons for disorder!}- conduct, upsetting and over- 
riding the chile stands on Main Plaza (see September 'Ml) 1861 

8 

Meeting held to devise means of turning the Olmos creek into the .Aiazan to present 

overflows in the San .Antonio River ... 1868 

9 

Bol) Augustin is released by the Mayor, but is taken in charge by a determined mass 
of citizens and one of the most exciting lynchings in the history of the city fol- 
lows. Bob is hanged on a tree at the southeast corner of Military Plaza at the en- 
trance of Flores street (this tree was grimly named "La Ley de Mondragon ) at the 
hands of a vigilance committee and by the unanimous consent of a large mass of 
citizens, who had concluded that Bob was a bad man (see September 7, 1801 1 . . . 1861 

Ox carts are seeing their great day 1870 

Saengerfcst in San Antonio 1870 

10 

The Jewish .Synagogue on Travis Park is deilicatcd 1875 

11 

General Woll and his Mexican army invests San .Antonio lalso General \'asquez, 

March 7, l.S4:i) 1842 



^'' La Lev ue Mo.vdk.vgon — Fi.okes Street. 



.A little tree once grew 
In a street of San .Antone. 

That little tree we knew 

.'^s "La ley de Mondragon.' 

Which in a street of flowers 
Put forth no blossom fair. 

Yet by the Holy Powers 
A ghastly fruit it bare. 



Whose .seed was svuiden death. 

Whose stem a tight drawn rope. 
The Vigilante sailh 

'■ Well founded is the hope 

That the law of Mondragon 

.Ml Texas will endorse 
That • here in San Antone 

Von must not steal a liorse.' " 



156 SAN AXTOXIO DE BP:XAR. 

12 

sixth Annual Fair is held ISTS 

Lone Star Brewery is opened . 1884: 

Additional Barracks and Quarters are to be built at the New Post. Contract let Sep 

leniber 13 1888 

13 

A ('Terinan named Thulle is kine<l by Imliaus at Castroville 186T 

At an election held this day i l'>fi(i votes for and 46 against! the Colunil)usor "Sunset" 
route is subsidized Ijy the city and county $oOO,00(). (This did not materialize, see 
January 20th i 1873 

14 

Celebration in San Antonio of the one hundredth anniversary of Humboldt's birtlid.iy 1869 

A Light Artillery Company reorganized, Stanley Welch, Captain 1870 

Pancoast's building on Commerce street begun ... 1880 

Through communication with Saltillo completed 1883 

Last stone of the New Federal Building on Aluno Plaza laid 1889 

15 

Great " Indianola " storm on the coast, .'Ul lives lost at ludianola, wliiih city is ilc- 

stroyed ( Herald says September IT.""! 1875 

The Military Headquarters begun (now Maverick Hotel, see also April 11 and Feb- 
ruary Ml 1877 

The Texas state University is opened at Austni with 108 students 1883 

Belknap Rifles inaugurated ,....,.... 1884 

16 

Mexican Independence Day. Don Miguel Hidalgo proclaims in favor of liberty 1810 

The Colored Catholic Church is dedicated by Bishop Neraz 1888 

The corner stone of the City Hall, Military Plaza, is laid 1889 

17 

Captain Havs defeats General Woll on the Salado creek. Captain Dawson's command 

loses 36 men on the same day. General Woll retires to the Rio Grande ... . 1842 

18 

George Wilkins Kendall advertises "Merino Bucks;" this is probably one of the 

earliest introductions of this breed into Texas 1857 

19 

First issue of the San Antonio Daily Times 1880 

20 

St. Joseph's Church is almost finished 1872 

21 

While yellow fever is raging at Houston and Galveston there is none in San .Antonio 1867 
The San .\ntonio Daily Herald is sold by auction 1878 

22 

The Dullnig block, corner of Commerce an<l .\lamo streets, is begun 1883 



THK MONTH Ol' S]';i'TK.MIiER. 157 

23 

Ct-mral II. 1'. Bee caiiif to Texas via Galveston, on the lirsl lii]! olthe Morgan line of 
steamers, steamship Cohimbia, Captain Wright. (The deneral took part in the 
Indian battle at Plnm Creek between San Antonio and Anstin, in 184(), and he 
finally came to San Antonio in 1842, during the Vasquez campaign. He served 
with distinction in many Indian campaigns, and in the inva.sion of Me.\ico I)y the 
Unilcd States . , 1837 

A wrangle over the " Head of the Kiver " is now going on in the city, all to little pur- 
pose, since the city had sold its birthright securely and legally. 1886 



24 

Hrilliaiil Aumra Borealis visibk- at U p. in. (see September Li. lS5i*l 1870 

25 

Bill \\'liitle\'. the desperado and train robber, is killtil, resisting arrest, by rnited 

States marshals. His body is brought to San .\ntonio and viewed by hundreds 1888 

26 

Horns first become an article of commerce here 1868 

The first regular trip in San Antonio of an electric motor car was made on the .Manio 
Electric Street Railway Company's track from Navarro Street to the International 
Fair Grounds, south of the city (Thompson-Houston system |. Since this date, all 
the main street car lines have adopted electric motor cars of this and the Spragne 
system 1890 

27 

The corner stone of the new Cathedral of .San Fernando is l.iiil with impressive cere- 
mony on Sunday . 1868 

Danenhauer block, corner Jlaiu street and Main plaza, coni])letcil ;nid Sol Deutsch goes 

into business there . . . 1877 

28 

The tiovernor of Texas issues a proclamation of a severe character against fence cut- 
ters ; also against persons unlawfidly enclosing land by fences 1883 



29 

James Mann, a farmer, ploughs up an old Spanish coat of mail and some cojiper coins 

on the Medina river, a relic of long bygone d ns 1883 

30 

The .Mamo Mission Church is still being used as a I'nited St.-ites commissary store . 1858 
The (jovernnient Hospital at the Post is begun , 1885 

The Crosstown " Street " Railroad makes its first trip 1888 

The James residence was built in September, fi'his house, still standing on Commerce 
street, 1S!(0, is perhaps the oldest .American residence of two .stories in the city. 
General Worth died in this house, and it is also a house that General Robert I*, 
Lee frequented when he was here in charge ol the military department. 1847 

Nat Lewis. Sr., came to Te.xas about this date 1842 



lo.S 



SAX AXTOXK) DI-: BKXAR. 



,W . 



OCTOBER. 




Major Van Doni engages in a severe Inilian ri:<hl ; ■")(i Indians killed . 



1858 



Skirmish at Gonzales between Texans and Mexicans over the possession of the Gon- 
zales cannon. The Texans are victorious ; this opens the War of Texan Inde- 
pendence 1835 

Gtienther's lower (first) mill begun 1859 

Henrv Ward Beecher lectures at the Casino on the Reign of the Common People . 1883 



The \"ance liuilding. on Houston street, is still used as a niilitar\ ilepot 



1858 



Great swarms of grasshoppers infest San Antonio from ,i southeasterly direction 



1867 



The mail from San Antonio arrives at Sau Diego, Cal., in 2(;'2 days. "Fastest time 
on record ; complete triumph of the .Southern route." (It is afterwards done in 

much less time, i 1857 

Second annual Volksfest ; very brilliant parade ; great success . 1883 

Dr. Howard is appoinied Postmaster. 1885 

6 

San Fernando Cathedral is opened with ni\Kh ceremony 1873 

Indians kill three boys and a girl named Dowdy, above Kerrville, on the Guailalui>L- 1878 
Grenet begins the inartistic wooden building for a grocery store adjoining the Alamo 

Church, and partly on the site of the convent u .dls and convent yard . 1 878 

San .Xntonio and .Aransas Pass Railroad is completed lo Kerrville. 1887 



The first St. Marv's street bridge is erected 



1858 



8 



Ground is broken for the otii San Antonio .X.itional bank Iniildiiig i now occupieil by 

O'Connor & Sullivan, bankers) 1867 

Yguacia Cortez is acquitted of the murder of Stanniforth 1885 



TIIK MONTH OF OCTOBER. 159 

9 

CollinswortU and Milam captiiix- (ioliail 183S 

Mrs. Hannig, who was a survivor of the storininjf of the Ahiimi, ami was tht.- wife of 
I/ieutenant Dickinson who was killcfi there, ihes. (Mrs. Dickinson was the 
mother of ■• The Chilli of Ihe .\laMK>."i 1883 

10 

Stephen I', .\ustin assumes ronnnand of llu' 'I'exans at (iouzales 1833 

Case of San .Antonio and Mexican Cult K dlroail v. City of San .\ntoiiio is decidecl 

ajjainst the city. 1868 

11 

lU Paso and ,San .\ntonio mail attacked liy Indians; two of the escort are killed . . 186T 

12 

S. F. .Austin, commanding the Te.xaus, starts for San .\ntonio a.a^ain^t Cos . . 1835 

Last case of cholera epidemic (see Septeiubor 2) . 1866 

13 

First revolutionary meeting held in San .\ntonio . . . 1834- 

Citizens are breathing more freely and are thankful th.it the cholera was no worse isee 

Septeinlier li and ll'i . 1866 

14 

city authorities are talking of widening Commercj .street, along liv Groos' Ijank . . . 1867 
GroHUii broken for the new San .\ntoaio National Bauk building, Commerce .street. . 1885 

15 

Many fences are being cut ami Imrned about this time 1883 

16 

-V three hundred dollar foot-bridge is opened on Commerce street 1866 

17 

Ncarl\' all the American Texans are bc^coiuini^ conviiiceil thai il is now coniplcle iiule- 

])en(lfn('o from Mexico or notliinj^ , 1 R^'i 

18 

J. I-jiiesl Smith, express messenger, is given a rousing reception for having st) ctlect- 

ually disposed of train robbers on the .Southern Pacific Railroad near \i\ I'aso . . 1887 

19 

Eighty-two camels are imported by private enterprise from the Canary Islands . . . 1858 

20 

Austin arrives with the Texan forces at the Mission Kspada . 1835 

The colored " F^xcelsior (iuards " are organized 1882 

The Prospect Hill Street Railroail is organized 1883 



ic.d SAN ANTONIO DK BEXAR. 

21 

George Wilkins Kendall, a gooil ami true friend lo .San .\utonio and Te.xas. dies at 

Boerne 1861 

It is to-dav decided to build the .Southwestern Lunatic .Asylum in Hexar Counly 1889 

22 

Case of Rhodes v. Whitehead el al. is decided in favor of defendant. This suit was to 
test certain rights to use the old Concepcion ditch. This ditch was afterwards 
abandoned ; it ran along Garden street from the old dam, now the Lewis 
mill dam, and was constructed about the time of the founding of the Con- 
cepcion Mission, probably about the year 1729. and it watered the lands of that 
Mir.sion. This case was decided 1858 

23 

Suit city V. Bishop Odin beguu — .\lanio properly . . 1850 

Second day of the third annual Volksfest. The Belknaps now win first prize for best 

drilled company. San .\ntouio Rifles win second . 1885 

24 

J, B. Lacoste, old and progressive citi/.en, first president of ,Saii .\nl(iniu WaUr Works 

and the San Antonio Ice Factory, dies 1887 

25 

Some genuine Gyp.sies encamp lliis week al .San Pedro .Spring- 1873 

26 

Fastest record of stage mail from HI I'aso in six days 1868 

27 

Fannin, with a force of Texans, arrives al Mission Concepcion 1835 

Captain W. G. Tobin hastens with a company of 60 men to relieve the frontiersmen 

from the aggressions of Cortina's invasion 1859 

28 

Battle of Concepcion between Fannin's force of 90 Texans and the Mexican troops from 
San Antonio, under Cos. The latter are driven back to the city. Richard 
.\ndrews is killed, the first in this campaign 1835 

29 

First Convent foot-bridge is built by .subscription ; it is afterwards washed away 1868 

Cardinal Gibbons is here, and next day he officiates at San Fernando Cathedral 1887 

30 

General Cos is fortifying San .Antonio 1835 

One thousand Texans under Austin at Mission Concepcion. (Many of them disperse 
shortly afterwards to escape the severity of the weather. Having been hastily 
summoned, they came unprepared to winter. ' 1835 

31 

Tlie bell of St. Mark's arrives from Troy, .N. Y. It was cast from an old cannon dug 

up in the .Alamo, and was cast at the expense of S. A. Maverick 1874 

[Mem .—The revolutionary ideas of the Texan party had arisen by the refusal of Santa 

.Anna to separate Texas from Coahuila.] 1834 



TH1-: MONTH OI' NOVKMBER. 



ICl 




NOVEMBER. 



The United States Arsenal is bei^in to be built on its present site . . . . 1859 

Antonio Manchaca, a prominent Mexican-Texan veteran and citizen, born ISOd, dies 

this day , 1879 

Mr. Herman Kanijmiann takes the Menger Hotel in hand 1887 



I''irst match game of base ball played in this city 1867 

The Belknap Rifles receive their charter 1884 

The first survey of the San Antonio and Ar.insas I'ass Railroad is completed 1884 



The city is first lighted with gas 1866 

The Edison Phonograph makes its first appearance here at the Alamo Literary Hall 1878 



Floresville and San Antonio are connected by wire : first message on the /)th 



1886 



Corner stone of German Catholic Church of St. Joseph laid with great ceremony . . . 1868 
The new building of the San .\ntonio National Bank, on Commerce street, is occupied 1886 



6 



San .Antonio National Bank is organized 
The second International Fair is opened 



1866 
1889 



Magee is at (loliad with the " Republicans :" the Royalists are defeated 



1812 



8 

The Texans take up a position at Powder House Hill overlooking San .\ntonio . 1835 

Giraud, City Engineer (afterwards Mayor), begs the City Council to reserve the lots 
and head springs at the head of the river, and to reserve a strip of land on the cast 

bank of the river within the city limits. . 1852 

T. C. Krost's residence. Soledad street, begun 1881 

Milam Block begun 1 88 1 



IHi' SAN ANTONIO DH BEXAR. 

9 

A large trail! of United States camels pass thn>in;li Commerce street 1859 

10 

" Ledger ami Texan Daily Newspaper," No. 1, published . 1859 

11 

Foundation stone of joint City and County Hospital laid 1886 

12 

The V'ance House is first opened as a hotel. (This was the old Military Headquarters 

l>efore anri for some years after the war. i 1872 

13 

First trial of the new steam roller for street improvements 1885 

The first International Fair held at the new Fair grounds, at Riverside Park, opened li\ 

President Diaz, of Mexico, by telegraph 1888 

14 

The corner stone laid of the original Odd F'ellows' Hall building, on Houston street. 

(This hall was added to and remodeled in 1889-90. ) 1878 

Reunion of the Terry Rangers in San .\ntonio 1889 

15 

Lorenzo de Zavalla dies at San Jacinto mot at the hattle ) 1836 

.San Antonio thoroughly aroused over the Cortinas invasion at Brownsville. Much 

excitement in town 1859 

The West End Town Company is organized and receives the final transfer of the 

property 1887 

16 

It is finally seen that \'ictor Con.siderant's Socialistic Colony, near Dallas, does not 

prove to be a success 1858 

J.J. Duerler secures a charter for a street railway to San Pedro Springs iit<ioes not 

materialize) J S66 

17 

The charter of the San Antonio and Mexican Gulf Railroad is renewed 1857 

-A committee is appointed to solicit subscriptions to .St. Mark's Church . . . 1858 

18 

Sunday law does not prove acceptable to San .Vntonums about this time .... 1887 

19 

Continued and persistent rain interrupts the success of the International Fair here 1888 

20 

The Mexican Royalists from San .\iitoiiio arc defeated at I'loliad 1812 

James and Resin Bowie defeat the Indians in their celebrated fight at San ,Saba . 1831 

San Antonio Ice Factory established 1866 



THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER. 1(58 

21 

The present (IWIO; ConuiK-rce street bridjje is lieKuii about this dale 1880 

The National Kditorial Association meets here 1888 

22 

The fir^t eity ordinance aij;ainst carr\ niy concealed deadly weapons .... 1867 

23 

B. I,. Crouch receives the news that several of his nearest relatives are brutally mur- 
dered. No trace of the murderer 1883 

24 

The Herg Klectric Lij,dil starts with (>') lights. This is the secon<i visitation of San 

Antonio by electricity and the dynamo 1887 

25 

Fire Company established about this date, A. .A. Lockwood, chief 1857 

Thomas William Ward, Captain of Artillery at the storming of San.\ntonio, lK3o, dies 

at Austin 1872 

John James, an old citi/.en of the early forties, dies (see Septemljer 301 1877 

26 

"The Grass Fight." The Mexicans fight for grass for their cavalry, and are defeated 

by the Texans 1835 

An act to amend the act of January 14th. lS4l2, juacleil i seventh document relating to 

city charter) 1855 

27 

I^ieutenant Kggleston ordereil to cross the Rio Grande to pursue Indians, if necessarv . 1884 

28 

Kmigrants from Canary Islands arrive in San Antonio — sixteen families 1730 

La Villa Capital de San Fernando founded U)ld document in Countv Records con 

taining ordinances of San Antonioi 1730 

.\ustin resigns command of the army of Tex.ms on being appointed Tnited States Com- 
missioner 1835 

Fence cutting is rampant still 1884 

29 

Greiiet purchases part of the .\Ianio ]>roi)erty 1877 

30 

I'irsl Presbyterian Church, Houston street, dedicated 1879 

James I,. Trnehart, Te.xas veteran, dies 1882 

Cornerstone of Madison Presbyterian Church laid . . . 1882 
'■ Deaf," or Krastus Smith, a celebrated scout and pioneer of Texas revolutionary 
times, was born April 19, 1787. He took an active part in the preparation of the 
defense of the Alamo, but was absent on duty during the seige, and shortly after- 
wards did good service at the battle of San Jacinto; dies 1836 



164 



SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR. 



DECEMBER. 




1 

I'ostnuister Johnson takes charge of tile San Antonio I'ost office 1889 

2 

(ieorxe Dnilnijs; finds petroleum on his ranch bv ilriUing for artesian water . . 1887 

3 

The population of the City of San Antonio is reported about this date b\ the assessor 
as 7142. (It is supposed to be incorrectly estimated on August 18. ]S5S. as City 
of San Antonio, 5281 ; County of Bexar, 4.S97. 1 1856 

4 

Stock amounting to |.5U,()0() taken by the city in the .San .Antonio .Mexican Culf Rail- 
road. I J. M. Devine, Mayor. I See December 30 . . , . 1850 
Experimental " tube well " sunk on Military Plaza, 26 feet deep 1868 

5 

San .\ntonio is assaulted by the Texans under Milam and F. W. Johnson ; one Texan 

killed and fifteen wounded 1835 

The abandoned wires of the Military Telegraph are purchased liy the Erie Telephone 

and Telegraph Company 1883 

6 

l-'ive Texans wounded in the assault this day 1835 

George Hoerner's saloon opened on Commerce street 1858 

First raid by the city on gamblers 1867 

7 

Death of .Milam aud two others in the assault 1835 

8 

Texans succeed in taking a house on Main Plaza 1835 

9 

General Cos surrenders the city to General Burleson, comtnander of the Texans 1835 



Till' MONTH OV DECEMBER. 1C.3 

10 

Hfiiry Klmeiidoif's resilience l>e.miM 1881 

11 

Memorial services held ill the (Ipera House in nunmrv of Jefferson Davis 1889 

12 

National cattle trail has l)ecii the principal to])ic anionj; the caltlenien at their ineetiiit; 

this week. (The trail had "toyn ' lii'fore the land-grabbers and the railroads !) . 1884 

13 

Railroad communication with New Orleans is nincli a<;itated at this date 1858 

The Alazan ditch is nearly completed , 1876 

14 

Act of incorporation of the City of San Aiilonio. (This is the third document of incor- 
poration. See January, 178H :,iid 17.'!4. .'\lso January .5, 1S3T) 1837 

Indisjnation meeting of citizens held strongly coudenining fence cutting 1883 

15 

Amendments to certain sections of the City Charter of Sail Antonio made at the elec- 
tion held this date (tenth document ) 1874 

HulTalo Hill entertains us at the Casino 1879 

16 

The City Council decides to open Crockett street across the river to St. Marv's street. 

(This is an important improvement. ) 1889 

17 

Kit Carson's letter published in the .San .\ntonio Daily Herald, dated from Taos, New 
Mexico, saying that a little Texas boy had been recovered from the Indians and he 
wishes him to be advertised 1859 

Copper pennies are introduced into the city into commerce 1886 

18 

The .\lamo Rifles give a granil dress anil military ball at the " New " Casino Ilall . 1857 

19 

S. M. Wills, who had been held for four years a captive by the Comauches. escapes 

and relates his experiences in San Antonio 1878 

Kinnia .\bbott opens the Grand Opera House, .\lamo I'laza 1886 

20 

Ycager is arrested, and on the 2il of this month Pitts .and \'eagLr .arc identified as the 

much wanted postollice ami mail roliliers 1884 

21 

The first I'air of the Agricultural and IiuUistri.d .Vssociation of Western Texas isopenedl868 
I'ourteen thousand dollars is appropriated by the I'nited States Congress to purchase 

laiul to enlarge the .Xrsen.il grounds 1880 



1()0 SAN ANTONIO DI'; BIvXAR. 

22 

Gallaghfi's corner, near Menger Hotel, is occui)icil on tliis date by the ,San Antonio 

I'osloffice 1879 

23 

Janu-s Kerr, tlie oldest American settler west of Colorado river, (lies 1850 

We hear of a battle with the Ceroninio baud of Apaches in which two officers are 

killed and some men 1885 

24 

Uitcht Revercnil Anthony Dominic I'elicer is installed at San I-ernando Cathedral as 

first Hishop of .San Antonio the was buried in this Cathedral April 17, 1SS{| 1874 

25 

Stephen !•'. Austin. Secretary of State of the Republic of Texas, dies at Columbia 1836 

The battle at Mier, Mexico, is fought 1842 

The International Railroad track is completed to I<aredo ; first train this day 1881 

26 

Santa .\nna and .\lmonle are released by President Houston 1836 

The Texans on the Mier expedition surrender to the Mexicans 1842 

27 

Cortinas is beaten bv the Texans under I'ord and Tobin. near Brownsville 1859 

28 

San Antonio is just beginning to feel the po.-,sil>ility of beconiin;i a market for cotton 1858 

29 

The Maverick Printing House have just moved into their fine new five-story building 

on Avenue I-; 1890 

30 

A cit)' election is held to consider the advisability of taking stock in the San .\ntonioand 
Mexican Gulf Railroad ; 2(i7 voles cast, of which ii3 were in favor of the fTjd.dOd 
subscription 1850 

31 

Dedication of the KUiott Memorial Hall 1889 

Moses Austin was in San .\utouio about this date . 1820 

German-English school established about this dale 1858 

James and Resin P. Howie are in San Antonio to organize the San Saba expedition 1831 

We have the most populous city ol Texas, three main railroad lines, a perfect system of 
water works, the purest water, wood block-paved plazas and streets, several electric 
street car systems, the prettiest Opera and Club House in the South, beautiful public 
buildings, good electric lighting and gas systems, good hotels, a lovely river, a cli- 
mate second to none on this continent, efficient schools, three daily newspapers, 
the juost important military post in the fnited Slates, immense markets for horses, 
cattle, wool and cotton, a progressive mayor, a history inexhaustible in interest, 
and a magnificent future 1890 



FINIS. 



ADVERTISING APPENDICLE. 

The Alamo Heights. 

a 

A Very Iiovely Residence and Villa Addition to the City of 

San Antonio. 

The properly in the neighborhood of the head waters of the San Antonio River has 
always held an undisputed reputation of being the Garden Spot of Texas. The River rises 
here, almost full-grown within the distance of a quarter of a mile, from great mysterious 
springs bubbling in translucent pools of limpid water. Around and above this, the land is 
luxuriant to a degree with fine trees and sylvan greenery, and, while enjoying all the 
attractions of a well timbered river bottom, it yel stands high and above the low lands and the 
city, with exquisite views of the fertile valley below and of the mountains Hud hills reaching 
away to the north. Giant Pecans, Live Oaks, Hackberry, Elm, Box Elder, and many other 
noble trees are here in profusion, with a rich sprinkling of the beautiful Mountain Laurel, an 
evergreen which in the Spring-time blooms in purple dress among the myriads of wild flowers 
with which the neighborhood teems at certain seasons of the year. Such in brief is an 
unexaggerated description of the property acquired over a year ago by 

TUB fllamo HBignts ImproYBinGnt ConiDaim, 

And, up to the date of the publication of this work, not a lot has been placed upon the market, 
but, under the management of Mr, W. J. B. Patterson, the designs of Mr. R. R. Salter, C. E., of 
Denver, have been assiduously carried out. For a year or more a large force of men has been 
busily employed to make this place the most desirable residence property of our attractive and 
historic city. Landscape engineering as a science has been brought to tone a naturally be lutiful 
locality. Wide streets, 80 to 100 feet, with 12-feet sidewalks, have been graded and graveled- 
Drives and roads have been constructed upon the contour lines of the land, insuring a natural 
drainage of all lots. Parks have been laid off and trimmed, and here the picturesque arroyos, 
which dip dow n to the Olmos creek, have been put to very effecUve purpose. This creek runs 
in an unbroken stretch of nearly a mile on the west side of this property and empties itself 
into the River, just below.. 

A magnificent drive has been constructed from the city to the Alamo Heights Property by 
the City Council, a bonus having been provided by the Company towards this work. Along this 
drive, starting from the Federal Building, an Electric Street Car Line is rapidly being laid to 
this Suburban Addition, winding through and around. Five miles of track, standard gauge, 
are already under construction. The .system will be Thonip.son- Houston. Cars will start every 
fifteen minutes and transit will be rapid — twenty or iwenty-Cve miles beiug counted upon as 
the usual rate of travel. 

N. B. — Five or six big springs, and fifty or sixty minor springs niiike this property a 
perpetual paradise, and insure the purest of drinking water. 
For particulars, call on or write to 

^la/T\o )^ei<5l7ts lapd andJnprouemeQt <5ompar)y. 

W. J. B. PATTERSON, 

President and General Manager. 

No. 42 7 East Houston Street, San Antonio, Texas. 



I'. K. HAINBRIDGH. W. CURNER. 



BAINBRIDGE & CORNER, 



iTiu.iSHKks or 



San Antonio de Bexar, 

Bv W. CORNER. 




Stationers and flems Agents, 

NEXT r 4G N TICKET OFFICE Squ Antonlo, Tcxas. 



Books, Periodicals, Fine Stationery of All Kinds, 

Newspapers, Fancy Articles, 

Boston Linen, Crane's, Marcus Ward's Irish Linen, Bond Writing Papers, 

Siibsniplions to Newspapers and Magazines Solicited. 
,tiold and Foiiiitaiii Pens. 

Ir^Koto 'Y'iews of San ^ntoriio and ^icinitq. 

/^(^eQts for LiyrlQl^t Ditsorj's lauii) Je^^is (joods. 

Tlie largest collection of Fine Japanese Ware in this cit\'. Birtlida)' Presents and Cards. 

Visitini; and Wedding Cards Kngraved in the most Fashionable Styles. 

Progressive I'Uu'hrc Prizes. 

I'lMunpt ll*'livery nl'all KetidinK' Mattel'. 



THE INTERNATIONAL ROUTE." 

ypteFDationalf Gre at floFthern H- K 

^ • •— < \ 

SHORTEST, OUICKEST AND BEST \^__/ 

LINE FROM 

ST. yeyia^^^ ^'^ANSAS eiTY. 

GHieAee. nev york 

AND ALL POINTS NORTH AND EAST TO 



•^^ #lNjfe w^^ i^-Afe 







PULLMAN BUFFET SLEEPING CARS 

THROUGH WITHOUT CHANGE BETWEEN 

St. Louis, Houston, Galveston, Austin, Laredo, 

and San Antonio. 



J. E. GALBRAITH, 

TRAFFIC MANAGER, 

PALESTINE, TEXAS. 
F. O. BECKER, 

GENERAL AGENT. 

GALVESTON, TEXAS 



D. J. PRICE, 

ASST. GEN. PASS AGENT, 

PALESTINE, TEXAS. 

T. M. ORR, 

GENERAL AGENT, 

SAN ANTONIO. TEXAS. 



^Inl'il'.l III I 1. 1 'I li|"l'<|t<rj|»|E 

«»r«<'ri ■"I'li'ii i<iiii I'll I'l I II I 111 II iii I I II 1= ^^^iv *i<i'i>'i'i ii'i'114'i'i i"t>i til t-'t irfi I I i''iiii<:iiii<-fr|i'rifn|ni>j 



DRdGGISr. 

(■)<l'i|llUJl»|ll||.|l'|>.|ll|l.|l |i'|l<|rlll|ll|ll||.|II|.l|l[|;<| It.!.!!. |M<i|i1HI.|j<|iJi:| ] 




1 ^PATENT MEDIGINES.^ 
^Toilet Articles, Sponges, Brushes.Etc. 



'ill 1. 1 iJii'iiiii I I I 11 11 I'l"! i I ■<'! <l"|i I iiirii i»i'<ti« 



]>ili>liiliiii I I I I I I I 11 r i.j iri 



36 West Commerce Street, San Antonio, Texas. 



nm. J£NGG, 

WHOI.KSAI.K AND KKTAIL 

Booblle[iStationef, 

218]W35l goii!n[)3rc3 Slreat, ] ' 

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. 







5f^;'*^'^S^.*sc»fe.is;^^ 



Maps, Souvenirs, Stereoscopic and other views of tlie City. 

The Historj' of San Antonio de Bexar mailed to an\- part of the 



world. 



Tea, Coffee, Coeoa, Spiee & Baking Pouider 

ESTABLISHMENT, 

3a7 West Commerce Street, San Antonio, Trxat*, 

Is always replete vvith choice pure goods, antl purchasers 
may rely on getting honest value for their money. 

Mr. Holland is an expert in Teas, and personalh 
superintends the Tea Department. 
Pure Java, Mocha, and other fine Coffees are being constantly roasted and ground on 
the premises. 

Please call upon, write or telephone to WM. HOLLAND 

Telephone No. 311. The Tea Man. 







* KEHHViiiiiE, Kerr GooiiTY, Texas. * 

AN EARTHLiY PARABlSn. 
THE HEALTH RESORT OF AMERICA. 

Kenville, on tlu- GuadaliiiK- river the queen of Texas rivers, is the lerniinus of the San 
Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway, and is seventy-one miles northwest of San Antonio. It 
has an altitude of l.lioO feet above sea level, is 1,(170 feet higher than San Antonio, and "wd 
feet hif^her than Koerne. It has a mean annual temperature of (i'> degrees. Six degrees 
above zero is the lowest temperature KVKR. registered, and !IS degrees the highest. Rainfall 
L'7 inches, with a <iry. invigorating and health-restoring mountain air. fieorge W'ilkins 
Kendall wrote to his paper, the New Orleans l'ica\une, that if the sick people in the rnite<l 
States could know of the health-giving qualities of this mountain air, there would hardly be 
standing room in onr lovely green valleys. 

Kerrville is entirely surrounded by a circle of mountains and hills, which are clothed from 
base to summit with vegetation. The Ciuadalupe is of incomparable beauty. Here it winds 
along the foot of the hills, audits banks are fringed with trees; cedar, oak, pecan, etc., in 
summer affording a delightful shade for fishing, boating, or a stroll along its peaceful marge, 
innumerable creeks empty into it near Kerr\'ille. Along the river, above and below town, and 
in tile valleys, are numerous farms, producing cotton, corn, wheat, millet, sorghum, etc., and 
in the fields and meadows rich grasses grow in luxuriance. Kerrville is the trading and shipping 
point for an almost limitless scope of countr\ for wool, hides, cattle, sheep, horses, nudes 
and hogs. Much attention lately has been paid to the introduction of blooded stock. 

The San Antonio and .\ransas Pass Railway has neat and commodious depot buildings here. 
The Fort Worth and Rio (Jrande railway is heading for Kerrville. and ere many months we 
shall become a railroad center and have a grand Central depot. 

The completion of the S. A. & A. V. railway to Kerrville, was the open sesame io this lieau- 
tiful region with its fine farms and ranches, its alternation of rounded hills and broad valleys, 
its leaping, sparkling water coursej ; its broad, geutl}' fiowing river, its emerald and golden 
lights, and its vitalizmg air. Air in constant and gentle motion. Absence of high winds ; 
bright, sunshiny ilays, and cool, breezy nights, even in midsummer, and the loveliest of laufl- 
scapes, make Kerr county the sanitorium /><?/• excelleuce of America, especially for invalids 
suffering from consumption and pulmonary troubles. 

The rich, allu\-ial soil of our valleys and plains back from the rivers, is adapted to the 
successful growth of the cereals, corn and cotton, and the acreage being cultivated is steadiU' 
on the increase. 

Kerr county has a population of some o, 700. Kerrville, with her 1,200 inhabitants, is the 
county site, a little city set upon a plateau on the east bank of the Guadalupe in an aniphi1:heatre 
of lovely hill.s. 

Men of moderate means, and the will to succeed, can get along in Kerr county. Good 
lands can he bought at prices and upon terms within the reach of all. This is destined to 
become a famous live stock region, and especially desirable for the rearing of horses and nmles. 
With its nutritive native .grasses, its pure water and rolling surface, strength of limb and hardness 
of hoof are assured. Cattle and sheep do well, and stock is being graded up. Good schools are 
maintained throughout the country. Churches are in a thriving condition; the Episcopalian, 
Baptist, Methodist I South I, Presbyterian and Christian have congregations and houses of worship 
with resident ministers. The Catholics will erect a church at Kerrville this vear. Private 
enterjirise has given us flouring and saw mills and cotton ,gins. Kerr county has a water power 
unsurpassed by any in Texas. We have fuel and Innlding material in abundance and acces- 
sible. To the business man overcome by disease, who is seeking a new lease of life, we would 
say, "stand not on the order of your comin,g, " but come at once, before the enemy has effected 
a lod.gment, and come to stay. Bring your capital with yon. Do not fear that von will find 
no profitable investment for your money. 

Jlen who have made some money in other parts will come here to .gain health. With 
health restored, and enamored of the beautiful coimtry, they will cndjark in those pursuits for 
which this section is best adapted. 

The most that we have said of the transcendent healthfulness of this lovely vallev niav l)c 
claimed for the entire country upon the head water of our west Texas streams. 

To that "somebody's darling" whose life is so infinitely dear to the loved ones at home, 
and so feebly held by the frailest of tenure, we wotdd say : Come to the mountains of Texas; 
come to the region of pure air and clear, lim])id water ; come liefore hope and strength are too 
far gone, and come with a confidence that in this vitalizing atmosphere you will experience a 
feeling unfelt before, 

^\l something that informs yoH 'tis a moment -u<hcnee you may tiate hencejor;caid and 
forexer." — 

Saff" For further information apply to the Mayor of Kerrville, or any citizen. 



R. R. SALTER. F. LAMBERT. S. v. SLONECKI. 

Civil Engineers and Apchitects. 

Surveys, Plans, Estimates, Etc., for Railroads, Cities, Bridges, Irrigation, 
Sewerage and Water Supply. Construction Superintended. 

^^ AGENTS FOR THE HEERDEGEN WATER INDICATOR, NO MORE DRY WELLS. ^^ 

^^^ iniKTER CUKRKNTEED '^^^l 

CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED 

Office: Room 4, Maverick Bank Building. SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. 

••••• MEERSCHEIDT • BROTHERS 

Meerscheidt Brothers have been highly successful with their three previous subdivisions 
in this city, because they have dealt fairly and squarely with their customers, and in no in- 
stance have they misrepresented the attractions of their properties, and have sold valuable 
property at prices and upon terms to suit the pockets of home-seekers. 

They are now laying out a lovely river subdivision, one mile .south of the center of the 
city, within one block of the street car track, with grailed streets and 

CEMENT SIDEWALKS, 

with water from the city waterworks, and with the fir.st chance at the pure gulf breeze. It is 
beautifully wooded along the river bank with giant pecan and hackberry trees. The lots are 
exceptionally large and long, and are eminently adapted for villa and choice residences. 
Within a short distance of this desirable place 

• MEERSCHEIDT • BROTHERS • 

are selling acre property. 

Their Prospect Hill property is still in the market. This al.so is an airy and desirable place 
in which to live, and is built up with nice houses of influential citizens. Electric street cars. 

Meerscheidt Hrothers also do a general investment and real estate business, have had a 
vast experience, and are well acquainted with the safest properties of the Southwest. 
They own — for sale to actual settlers — farm lands in bulk or small portions in Frio county. 
.\11 terms will be made easy and satisfactory to meet the wants of their customers. They 
refer to any banker of the city and to their former customers. 

■ MEERSCHEIDT- BROTHERS 

407 EAST HOUSTON STREET. 



THOMAS HAYNES, 



ATTORNEY AT LAW, 



Room 50, Kampmann Building. SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. 



"|V[AbbORY.i.hlHE" 

(N. V & X. S. S. CO.) 

I 1 .1 II I I I I I 1 1 ■ iif iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii lilt I I <r I If r'iri i i i i 1 1 1 i< i i i>'i i <i i«i -i i< ii'i i 'i tr i i i i i i i i i ■ i i i ii i 'i i i i i i 1 1 i i i i i i i i i iiji 

The only Line of Steamships Sailing Betvreen 

NEW-YORK-AND-TEXAS. 

♦ . 

steamers Lieave Pier 20, East River, Netu York, for Galveston, Texas, Every Wed- 
nesday and Saturday at 3 O'eloek P. fn. 

Steamers Lieave Galveston for (^leuj York Direct Every tUednesday and Saturday 

Morning i to suit the Tide). 



liiliiliilnlJ |! t I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I ■ I I I I I t I I I I I I I 



I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I III 11 I.I I.I I I I 11 




FI.KET: 



(BuiliiiiiKl . ■ :i,'''il" 

Lkona .s.ono 

Nl'KCK.'^ ........ ;i,5()0 

COMAI 3,0(10 

L.^MPASA.S 3,000 

Alamo 3,000 

San Makco.s 2,,S4(I 

Colorado 2,704 

Rio Grande 2,5HH 

St.\te OK Texa.s . . . .1,1)00 
CiTv of San Antonio . l,{ir)2 



Tons 
Toils 
Tons 
Tons 
Tons 
Tons 
Tons 
Tons 
Tons 
Tons 
Tons 



1 1 1 1 1 II II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 

OPPERING to PIRST BLASS gRAVELPRS 

MaHnificent Accommodations, with Cuisine and Attendance equal to the finest on land 
or sen, and nt rates including everything on Steamer 

* 

The Cheapest and 3/tosl (Comfortable ]\oute 

Between New York, all ICastern Cities, Ivurope and Texas. Try it and be convinced. THIS 
IS THK ONLY LINK that can ofTer a ticket COVERING RXTIRH EXPENSES to or from 
New York. 

For Tickets. Sailing Scht-dules. Plans of Steamers, and full information, apply to Mallory 
Line .Agents thnuighont tht- country, or address 

SETH SPRAGUE, General Eastern Agent, 306 Washington Street, Boston. 

H. McMrkTklK, Agent, Cor. 3d and Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. 
H. McMiRTRlE. Agent, 203 East German Street, Baltimore. 

B. K. Hakrls.s, Agent. Dallas. Texas. W. L. Wright. Agent, Denver, Colorado. 
JIosE Rai'Makl, Agent, Houston, Texas. R. W. Soiithwick, Agent, Key West, Florida. 

J. N. Sawyer & Co., Agents, 54 Strand, Galveston, Texas. 

W. J. YOUNG, General Southern Passenger Agent, San Antonio. Texas. 

C. H. MALLORY & CO., Gen, Agts., Pier 20 E. R. and 362 Broadway, New York. 



[\. pa9eoa5t 9 S09, 

^ MERC HANT . TAILORS 



AND THE LEADING HOl'SE IN 



GLOTiiING, UflTS and FURNISHING GOODS,. 



38 AND 40 WEST COMMERCE ST, SAN ANTONIO, TEX. 



H. E. HILDEBRAND. BEN. A. STRIBLING. 

AAA 

HiLDEBRAND & STRIBLING, 

I^eal Estate 

7.ND HBSTRHCTS. 



We have special advantages for conducting a general land business and 

have the only complete abstract of titles to lands in Bexar 

County and City of San Antonio. 



27 J W. Commerce St., SAN ANTONIO, TEX. 



The "Old Reliable Furniture House" of 

Re!NHOI-D BECKeR. 

Furniture, Carpets, Matting, Art Squares, Oil Clotli 

KND I_ir-10I-EU7V5. 

OUR I Small Profits and Quick Sales. We n re yours very respectfully. 

"°"° . REINHOLD BECKER, 

Established ISVO 19-20 WEST COMMERCE St , San ANTONtO, 



ADOLPH DREISS, 

PHARMACIST Rp ffiApFACTURiNG GHE|VIIST. 

DEALER IN TOILET ARTICLES, SPONGES, CHAMOIS, TRUSSES, CRUTCHES, 
BANDAGES, ETC. ALSO A LINE OF FINE CUTLERY. 

PARTICULAR ATTENTION IS GIVEN TO THE PRESCRIPTION DEPARTMENT, DAY AND NIGHT. 



NO. 19 ALAMO PLAZA, 

S-A-iT .A.iT'X'OiTIO, TE^Si-^S. 



M. E. JACOBSON, 



: 



PHOTOGf^flPHER, 



NO. 2 EAST HOUSTON STREET, 
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. 



For Fine Photographic Work in all Styles go to this place 

you will be pleased. 



PlCTOt^E SQU E SRH fiNT OlSlIO. 

The Best Collection of San Antonio Scenery. Also For Sale at 

BAINBRIDGE & CORNER, Alamo Plaza, and all first-class 

Book and Fancy Stores. 



FORTY NICELY FURNISHED ROOMS^ 

WITH OR WITHOUT MEALS, 



FOR RENT BY DAY, WEEK OR MONTH. 



■^ 



ALAMO FLATS, 



E LECTRIC BELLS, BATHS, ETC.. ETC., 

ON ALAMO PLAZA, 100 YARDS FROM 



U. S. COURTHOUSE AND POSTOFFICE. 



THE LEADER^ 



216 UJ. Commepce Street. 

Ladie.^' F^Liri^iisl^i 1:10 GtoocIk, 

GLOVES, HANDKERCHIEFS, HOSIERY, ETC. 
•^^sgAgency for Foster, Centemeri & Alexandre KID GLOVES 



G. R. SULLIVMN 




_^^ 



Leading Dealer iii 

* 



IifiDIES', GENTS' and CHIliDREN'S 



8001:5, Sf?o<^5.^5''PP?''5 



!j';: J^ lai-{je stocl< of Kine and 



Medium lines cilways 
on Haiicl. 



-^^ 



^ommer(;e ar^d St. /T\ary Jts. 



Sarj /Ir^topio, Jexas. 



ALEX. SARTOR, 

: ^4-^-^DlA|VI0HDS, UlATCHES, : ; : : : 

•'o> JWexiean o- piligpee o- Jewelpy :o:' 

ONYX BLOCKS. 



IH Coninieree ir^ti^eet. 



Sai:i, ^^ i^toixio, 'I'e>s.;i!S 



ESTABLISHED 1875. 

C. H. TVYUELLER, 



wholesale and Retail Healer in 



Rptists' and Paintens' Supplies, 

F*ictuire F'rMiiiess, Hhite £ii-(d Window Oltiww, 

Xlii'rors, Kle-. 
COMMERCE STREET. •• s SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. 



S. K. Martin, Cliicago. A. C. Schrvvkr, Sa)i Anloiiio. 

MARTIN & SCHRYVER, 




Of all sorts, kinds and qualities. 

^^BUIl-DING 7VYMTERIML- 

Of all Kinds, Shapes and Sizes. 

k large assortment of ornamental goods always in stock. We keep constantly on 
hand large quantities of the never yet surpassed 

J. HIjPlISHI'S B-A.K.BED FH:n:CE: Ax7"IK.E 

We are sliccessfnl competitors in price and goods. Come and be convinced. 

^OFFICE OF YARDS- CnHIN OFFICE 

South of Sunset Depot. 2 West Commerce St. 
^^T-iSAN ANTONJO, TEXAS.: 



et7olz's palm Qardei;. 



^jjp 



5 _ 

Str.v.nt.icks should not fail to visit this Paradise ot lro])ical Plants. Three Storie.s 
of .\iry (ialleries. Regular Musical Hvenings. ICxtjuisile .String and Brass Hand. ICleclric 
Service ami Lights. Hrequenteil l>y the best families. Card Tables, I,nnch Stand, and 
most complete Hilliard Rooms in the cit\ . 

Alamo Plaza to liosoya Street 



TWO 
ENTRANCES. 



JVtORGHN • St ■ CQ, 

plumbers, apd . (^as-pitt^rs. 

225 E. Houston St., SAN ANTONIO, TEX. 



.\\\ kinds of Plumbing, C!as and sieani Fitting executed with neatness and dispatch. 



JOSKE Bt^OS. i 



CLOTHING. 
BOOTS «^LP SHOES. 




JOSKE BROS. : 



• DRV GOODS, 



7V^II_1_INERV. 



NOTIONS. 



HUNT St BOOTH, 

> 

WHOLESALE 

GRAIN AND SAL7\ 

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. 



CAR LiOHD PRICES ON HAY, GRAIN AND SALiT AT ANV POINT IN TEXAS, THE 
SOUTHWESTERN STATES AND mEXICO. 




H. VOGLER & CO.'S 

Alamo TrunkFactory 



Manufacfiirers of and dealers in 

TRUNKS, TRAVELING BAGS, SATCHELS, STRAPS, COLLAR 
AND OUFF BOXES, LEATHER TRAVELING CASES. 
LEATHER GUN CASES, ETC., ETC. 



223 



ALAMO PLAZA, 

Ori'. THE ALAMO. 



San Antonio, 



Trunks and Sample Cases made to order. 



PAUL . WAGNER'S . BAZAAR, 

IMPORTKR AND DEALER IN 

^oy§i.^^9an0y (iood§. 



NOS. 22, 24 &. 26 

COMMERCE STREET, 

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 



S' 



/T\(?xiear>, 

Irjdiar) 

AND 

C^aliforpia 
. . (furiosities . . 

l^ou^ltii^S, 
Statiooery, 
/r\a(Ji(; I_ai7l:(?r95, 

goqKs- 



— RAUL WAGNER, >t; 

S 25 COMMERCE 5T. 4 A 

G?.A>J '(^^ NTO N I O.TeXA.c> ^ 



M e\i(;a.n cu Ri 031 ri E^ 

^/niLUREN'5 'C^RRlAq£5 ^ 
S*^**" SHOVV^ CASES X^^r*-' 



"Souuepir /^Ibams of S^i? /^Qt09io,"=°;~'~'j.°^°/ 



(9 

BiGy<;li?s, 
Tr^yeles, 
Ueloqipedes, 
Express . U/a(}0Q5, 
U/illovju-U/are, 
Bird <?a^es, 
Pic^ture prames, 
/llbums, 

D0II5. 

f 



ROUT. .\. WOODS. 



W. V. f,.\UR.\INE. 



Woods & Lauraine, 



REPRESENTING' 

I,\rRi-:L Hi:u;hts Proi-krtv. 
Park Place Propertv 

PRDSI'ECT Hill Property. 

Business Property. 
West Enh Property. 

Alamo Hki<;hts Property, 
East Enh Property. 

RESinKNCE Property. 



Real Estate Brokers, 



FAHmlNO n|VD l{HrlCH UAHDS. 



209 AUAmO PUAZA, 



SAN ANTONIO, TEX. 



H. H. FORD. 



C. H PICKFORD. 



C. S. GREEN. 



FORD, PiCKFOHD & CO. 

^ -DEALERS IP* ' 



7.ND ROCK SHLT. 



AGENTS FOR "THE SPRINGFIELD WAGON COMPANY." 

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 



No. 16 East Main Plaza 

Telephone No 501. 







A. .J. FRV, 

Real llistate, [soan ai]cl (general Aaent, 

l^o. 2 W. Commepec St. • San Antonio, Te^eas. 



will pay Taxes for residents and non-resideuts. Lands for sale in all parts of the State. 







THE HEALTHIEST AND MOST ATTRACTIVE 

SECTION OF TEXAS IS FOUND ON THE LINE OF THE 

SAN ANTONIO"& ARANSAS PASS RAILWAY. 



RUCKER, HARTWELL & CO., 



Sl'CCESSoKS To 



Rucker, Dignowity & Co., 

NO. 1 \V. HOUSTON ST., 

San Antooio, ^ ^ '^Fexas. 



• 



IWadame E. p. Duke, 

SOLE PROPRIETRESS OF 

Df. HaFlan's IWedieated Vapor Baths 

The Most Practical and Effectual Treatment for 

Dengue, Fever, Rheumatism 



AND KINDRED CHRONIC DISEASES. 



TETV^PL-ETON'S EYE iAi^KTER 

Is a Good and Tried Medicine and will Positively Cure the Worst Oases. 

Madame E. F. DUKE, 

Corner of Blum and Bonham streets. San AntOniO, TexaS. 



TRANSLATIONS OF ALL I^ANGUAGES. 



TEACHER OF THE 

^rend), Spanish an^ ^uglisl) Canguagcs, 



IN CLASS AND PRIVATE 

4B IMOK'TM STRKE^T. 



GEORGE DULLNIG, 

cnholesale Groeer, 

DWLLINIG BLOCK. 

fllamo, Commepce and Liosoya Streets, 

Skin Kistonio. Texhs. 



p. p. Collins /T\a9ufa(;tijri9(5 Qo., 

WIND MILLS, BOILERS AND ENGINES, STEAM PUMPS 
AND WATER SUPPLY MATERIAL. 



1, 3, 5 AND 7 EAST HOUSTON STREET. 
SAN RHTONIO, TEXAS. 



MISSION OIL COMPANY, 

¥=: inL. TK. RROTU^BSRG 

Star Oil, Stove Gasoline 

AND ALL K NDS OF 

ILLUMINATING AND LUBRICATING OILS. 



NO. 18 ALAMO STREET, OPPOSITE SCHOLZ'S GARDEN. 

SMN KNTONIO. TeXKS. 



J. RONSE. A WAHLSTAB 

HONSE & OlAHliSTAB, 

WHOLESALE DEALERS IN 



^ 



-^ 



Uyipes, Cic](Jor5 a^d <5i(§ar8 



^ 



^ 



BENNETT BLOCK, COMMERCE STREET. 



IS®., if lE^e^ % mi^^. 



rDE:.fiLLE:i=iS iisr 



liomber, Sash, Doors, Blinds 

ppd Buildi[}(5 /T\aterial (^(^Qi^rally. 

;ES AND YARDS AT 
I i G. N DEPOT, Telephone No 205, and at C -a r. Q ri h/-« r. I /-v Tnvnc 

SUNSET RAILWAY CROSSING, TELEPHONE No. 167, J"'/ piHUI/IU. loAdO. 

East Commerce Street. -^ ' ' 



OFFICES AND YARDS at 

PHONE No. 2 
5SING, ^ ELE 

East Co 
BRANCH YARDS AT COMFORT, TEXAS 



?'^(?-2*' ■frte^ 



yt^a--n'/d «'^ ■cftd^-t^^e'id , -/^^^ ^«^ a.^yn-e^ f^e-z^, €^■-21,^ ■n-ei-'i^^yi^ ^ne 

€ii^e-i^e-i^ee J-f-nce ^^et€ /r-j-i^e f--tte cet-f^ jU€4.'}^i^'^ ei^i^i^'i^^f^'^ t-t^ 

{/l/4i/e, ccf // O'), Ji,-^t'-rt.€ <4.d j^-i ^'U-oed. 



»/t "ll-v 



fcil 





Tilt; KINGSUEY RESIDENCE ^ND SA.NIT^RIUM, 

No. Ill Elm St., cor. Starr, three blocks from Alamo Plaza, 

For the care aurl treatment of DISEASES OF WOMEN, of the CHEST, and of CHRONIC, 
NON-CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. Good diet, home influences, modern appliances, treatment 
medical and snrgical, and constant supervision, are important features of this institution. 

B. E. Kingsley, M. O., 
Josephine PCiri.!jsley, M. D., 

Physicians in charge. 



GEO. H, KALTEYER. 



ESTABLISHED 1856. 



GEO. J. F. SCHMITT. 



F. KALTEYER & SON, 



WHOLE SALE DRUGGISTS, 

IMPORTERS AND EXPORTERS 



AND DEALERS IN 



PHOTOGRAPHIC STOCK. 



TELEPHONE No. 232. 
POST OFFICE BOX 1128. 



507. 509 ar^d 511 U/est: (^ommi^rei^ St. 



SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. 



SAM MAVERICK, PROPR 



L.W.MENGER, CASHIER. 



i(%!|l\iwii2r)(llll! 




^ 



^tP' 








llabaidi llniifimj ?)iui$r o 




I 






E X AS 



.ff" EQUIPPED ^,,~ 
■" OFFICE m THE %,,\ 
SOUTH. M ' 

ALL MACHINERY 
OPERATED BY ,,.< 
ELECTRICITY '.' ' 



JAMES DURYEE STEVENSON, 



( I'ortiierU- ot tlu- B.-irolNtw N'ork Cit\) 



Attorney ^^^ Counselor at bauu, 

Also, Solicitor and Standing Master in Chancery of the 
Circuit Court of the United States; also, 

■crasriariErD s'r-^T:E!S C03;vd:2N/d:issi03>TE;x^, 

THE KAMPMANN BUILDING. take elevator. 

SPECl.M/riES: Commercial Law, Colloctiniis, ami Real fvstatt- I,aw in all il.s Ijranche.s. 
I refer (without permission) to United States and State Judges and Court Officers in the 
Western District of Texas, and to all Hanks .uid Hankers of the city. 




€> 



.M.\NUl''.\CTrRKH OK 



Saddlery tflarness 

Wholesale and Retail Dealer in 

Leather, Saddlery Hardware, 

Heady-|VIade Baggy Tops 

Riil)l.ier, Enameled and Wiiite Duck, 

AND EVERYTHING IN THE CARRIAGE TRIMMING LINE. 



IVIexiean Haif Bridles, Quirts F^idirn^ UJhips), 
and Uassoes, 

ANGORA SKINS AND OTHER PELTS. 

309and3ll Main Plaza, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. 



The Healthiest and (Dost flttractive Section of Texas 

IS FOUND AMONGST THE HILLS AND FERTILE VALLEYS ON THE LINE OF THE SAN 
ANTONIO AND ARANSAS PASS RAILWAY, NORTH OF SAN ANTONIO, SEE S. A. <i. A 
P RAILWAY MAP. 

I lia\<* l-'ai-iii-. aixl Kaiu-hi's for sale in Keiwlall ami Itaiidi-ra CotiiitU's, ami i'it.v Pro|>i'rtv in 

^iBOERNE'K^ 

Til*' well known llfultli Kcsoi-t ;in»l <'«niiity Seat ot K4'ii(lall i'oiiiilv. TIhtc is a I>ail,v MaH and 

Staf^e I.int' lM't\v*'«*ii 

BOERNE HMD BKNDERH, 

A Oistancr of '^."i Mileii, the latter Town beini:: the County Seat of Bandera C'onnty. 

W. G. HUGHES. Real Estate Agent. 

I'oHt OlKce, ila>>tint;<, l\«*ndall Connt.v on l>ord«*r uf Kendall and Handera Countiesi. 



ELITE HESTAURAI^T Aj^D SAliOO]^ 

*-K-riSH, GAnE ANB OYSTERS -^-•> 

AND ALL THE DELICACIES OF THE SEASON ALWAYS ON HAND. 
MEALS TO ORDER AT ALL HOURS. 



WITH EXCLUSIVE DINING ROOM FOR FAMILIES 



Main Plaza and Soledad Street. Ladies' Entrance, Soledad Street. 
J. LOUSTAUNAU & CO., Proprietors. 



"^^ . 








FACULTY. 


w 


C 


BUCKMAN, 

President. 


B. 


F. 


Williams, 

Principal. 


E. 


M 


Barber, 

Principal. 


C. 


E 


Ball, 

Principal. 


T. 


T. 


DOWNEV, 

Principal 


Charles Johnson. 

Operator. 



J 


t 


COURSES. 


'•= "~ "1^ 


Al 


Ui siNiiss Course. 


^.W-^ 


■tj^ifr 


Shortha.vd (Eclectic and 
Sloan-Duployan Systems). 


J^|E£|n| 


^■^^^Mt^**" 


TVPE-WRITIN... 


l^^^l j 


jMB^ai 


Telegraphy. 


iHl 


Pq^ 


NOK.MAL. StlENTII-IC AND 

Mathematical 
Normal I'knmanship. 


rb~™^ip^ 


English, .Spanish and 


GEO. OULLNIG 


BLOCK. 





Occupies the third floor of this large aud haudsonie building, aud is, without doubt to the 
knowing, the only absolutely first-class institution of its kind in the State of Texas. 

Its illustrated catalogue is a master-piece of art and beauty, and should be in every 
household as an index to a School of Business and Normal training, whose influence and 
popularity are felt and recognized throughout the land. 



SESTT X"iaE2 



o3sr -fi^FFXjicA.xioisr. 



B. F. COBB. PnesiDENT. Geo. a. Dascomb. Vice-p 



RESIDENT. 



A. J. SCHUREMAN, Secy and Taeas- 



'j\}e[pii\^\3r)3 l^ufrjberQo., limited. 



SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. 



LONG LEAF YELLOW PINE 

R.^ I LRU -11) M.HTERML .V SPECl.^LTY. 



J. S. AI,]';XANI)I:R, /'lesii/ful. A. A. AI.KXAXDRR, Cashier. 



->Ii>. ;^li!)f-(- 



Thxas National Bank, 



23S CoiTimerce fcilreel, 



SjOlist jPs.nsrTON:io, TH::K:jPi.s. 



-Ml*. 



DIRECTORS: 



J. S. ALEXANDER, President. 

H. H. ANDREWvS, Capitalist. 

WM. HEUERMANN, Hugo & Schwellser, Wholesale Grace) s. 

AMOS MORRILL, Heywood Bros. & Co., Gardner, Mass. 
A. A. ALEXANDER, Cashier. 



'It!- 



The Accounts of Business Firms, Corporations and 

Capitalists Solicited. 



aiXX'ESTMENTS MAOE 



BILLS DRAWN ON THE CITY BANK, LONDON 

Mexican Dollars and other Foreisjn Money Bought and Sold, 




flpartmeot Hoose 

Cor. Houston r.^ Jefferson Sts., 



Fitted up with all modern improveiiients, i 



:UR0P£A1 PLAN. 



RESTAURANT CONNECTED WITH HOUSE. 

New Building, fitted up with Entirely New Furniture. 

Reception room on rirst floor for convenience of guests. Southeastern 

exposure. Large, airy rooms. Steam heatetl throughout. 

Hot and cold baths. Gas. Electric l)ells. 

Elevators. Fire escapes. 

EVERYTHING ENTIRELY NEW. 

MRS. HOCKETT 

Has had five years experieuce. 

SUITES OF ROOMS, WITH PRIVATE BATH ROOMS. 
Houston Street, opp. Maverick Hotel. 



Hflf^NiscH & BRER, 



15 COMMERCE STREET AND 
OPERA HOUSE BLOCK, 



TUVHISURKCTUReRS OR- 



©l^Giee ©GnJeGtioRepiei), 



PURE CANDIES, 



Decorated Cakes of all Kinds, Styles and Sizes. 



RESTAURANT AND CONFECTIONERY, OPERA HOUSE BLOCK. 



THEY ALSO MAKE A SPECIALTY OF 



FINEST ICE CREAM AND FRUIT ICES. 



Orders Delivered with Neatness and Dispatch 



HERM HARMS, 






TAILOR-MADE CL OT HING, 

GEf^TS' FUHNISHIHG GOODS, HATS, SHOES and NOVEIiTIES. 



specialty: 



Custom Made Shirts and Clotliing. 



Opera House Building, Alamo Plaza, 

San Antonio, :-: Texas 



Commerce, Navarro and Crockett Streets, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. 

rllhlill I ■ > I I I , I I I I I I II I I I 1 llllli|ll|l'|ll|ll|lll^ 

1 _. : :THR LARGEST: 

\ House-furnishing Goods Establishment 




Crockery, China, Earthemware 

and Glassware from every 

part of the Globe. 
Bric-a-Brac, Cut Glassware, Silverware, 
Cutlery, Lamps, Gas Fixtures, Man- 
tels, Fire-place Goods, Wrought Iron 
Goods, Japanese and Chinese Goods. 
Household articles, Gasoline vStoves, 
Kitchen utensils, Tinware, Wooden- 
ware, Brushes, Washing Machines and 
General Laundry articles, etc., etc. 

Hotel and Saloon Supplies. 



OUR MOTTO: 



^1 li'l-'li III III Ifil liil liilili I I I I t I I I I I I I II I IM II 



WE CANNOT BE UNDERSOLD." 



1858 ESTABLISHED 1858 

F. I. MEVEH, 



illljllllll '|ljlllll|ll|lllll|n|'!|«|'l|l<l ll'li.l IIIIIKIIIIlf 



^!^ ! ,4^MMt^ : i^ 




No. 35'West Side Alan?o Plaza, t ^^HSk.^ 'z Telephone No. 280, 



^W I W^mr : '^ 



si|iiiii|ii|i'iii|i'ii|i.|iJ'<li'|ii|ii|iiiiiiM|ti|iiti'|iiiiitT,i(^ 



The Pioneer Wine Merchant, 



WHOLESALE AND RETAIL DEALER IN 




te 



la 




a®i rf p7 fsi V li^ r^ rsi pp i j(5>i is 




— .■^knd4>' — 

RHINE: WINK, 

IMPORTER OF 

FDiElDn and DalllDrnla Wines, Liquors, 

CORDIALS, Etc. 



ALL COUNTRY ORDERS PROMPTLY FILLED. 







DEC 2 1 i^32 



I 






